The Neanderthal Man

Solving The Rubik’s Cube

2009-02-21T03:20:00.001-08:00

Familiarizing With The Cube

Before we begin let's first understand some basics. As in any country, industry, club or game, there are certain jargons that you will need to learn in order to understand what expert solvers are talking about. So, we will begin with some basic language lessons. You need to understand how to read this document and what we are talking about.

Cube The entire cube itself with all 6 faces and 27 pieces

Cubelet individual unit / piece that makes the cube

Moves each twist you make on the cube

Algorithm a sequence of moves put together to produce a certain result

Center The center pieces sits in the middle of each face.

Edge The edge pieces have two visible faces and are located in between 2 corners.

Corner the corner pieces have three visible faces and are located at the corners of the cube.

Upper This is the top face of the cube.

Front This denotes the front side of the cube or the colour that is facing you.

Right This is the colour or side on your right hand.

Left This is the colour or side on your left hand.

Down This is the colour at the bottom of the cube or the colour opposing the Upper

Each algorithm comes with a series of moves or twists. Each move is denoted with an alphabet and is automatically moving in clockwise direction. The cube has 6 faces: Upper (U), Down (D), Left (L), Right (R), Front (F) and Back (B). See diagram below.

U-layer

(Upper)

D-layer

(Down)

L-layer

(Left)

R-layer

(Right)

F-layer

(Front)

B-layer

(Back)

E-layer

(Equator)

M-layer

(Middle layer)

S-layer

(Standing layer)

Moves

Now that you are familiar with each section of the cube you can start to make some moves.

Stay North

Before you begin solving the cube you first have to know where you are and where you are heading by identifying which colour sits on which side. One of the most common problems a beginner has in solving the cube is in not knowing which direction he/she is facing.

The Rubik's cube, as in any cube, has 6 faces. The center faces on a standard 3x3x3 cube never move. This simply means that by looking at the center face you will know which colour goes on that face. For instance, if the White is on top and the Red is facing you, Blue will be on your right and Green on your left. You will also notice that the White face is on the opposite of the Yellow face, which means you will never have a white tile next to a yellow tile. This is the same for the Blue against the Green face and the Orange against the Red. Knowing this will help you better coordinate and find directions. So the first thing you will need to do is pick your Rubik's cube up and just look at each face and the colour on the centre of it.

Another problem you will face is what is known as Cube Rotation. As a beginner, you will find it very difficult to solve the cube if you keep turning it in all directions. Before you know it you are solving 6 colours at the same time, and even experts don't do this. Cube Rotations are to be avoided as much as possible. As a beginner you will find this hard but this will help you better understand what you are doing with the cube. Always maintain the colours in the same position as much as possible; somewhat like a starting marker or keeping north like a compass. In this document you will begin with the White on the top and the Blue facing you. Which means you cannot see the Green. As much as possible, start and end each algorithm in this position.

Holding the Cube

Start by positioning the white face of the cube in the U position and the Blue face in the F position. Now place you left thumb on the centre cubelet of the Blue and your left middle finger on the centre cubelet of the Green face. Using your right hand turn the R clockwise and back. Then use your right hand and turn the U clockwise and back again. This is basically how you will be holding and moving the cube.

For each layer, there are three possible moves:

Twist the layer 90 degrees clockwise
Twist the layer 90 degrees counter clockwise
Twist the layer 180 degrees (direction doesn't matter)

A 'clockwise' turn means clockwise when looking at that face. For the Back layer, this looks like a counter clockwise move from the perspective of the person holding the cube. It will take some getting used to.

A clockwise move of a layer is represented by the letter that corresponds to that layer.

Example: U would mean a 90 degree clockwise turn of the U layer.

A counter clockwise move of a layer is represented by the letter that corresponds to that layer, followed by an apostrophe or what we call a 'Prime'.

Example: U' would mean a 90 degree counter clockwise turn of the U layer.

A 180 degree
turn would be is represented by the letter that corresponds to that layer, followed by a 2. In this case it really doesn't matter which direction you go.

Example: U2 would mean a 180 degree turn of the U layer (in any direction)

Double layer turns

Lowercase letters represent 'double layer turns'. For example, the 'u' move is a move of the two top-layers of the cube, following the same direction as U. In other words, it's a U move, combined with an E' move.

u	d	l
r	f	b

Like all the other notation symbols, these lowercase letters can be followed by a 2 or an apostrophe denoting a double twist or a counter clockwise twist respectively.

Cube Rotations

Earlier I mentioned that you should not rotated your cube, however there are advance algorithms that require you to rotate your cube. The letters x, y and z are used to represent rotations of the whole cube. This is similar to a graph where x is the horizontal axis facing you and y is the vertical axis. The z axis is the third dimension of the cube.

The following pictures show how a 'Nomal cube' looks like after applying x, or y, or z respectively:

Start Position

...after x

...after y

...after z

x is a cube rotation which follows the direction of the R-face.
y is a cube rotation which follows the direction of the U-face.
z is a cube rotation which follows the direction of the F-face.

Like all the other notation symbols, these letters can be followed by a 2 or a Prime. The move x is basically the R move, but with the whole cube. For this reason, some websites might use the notation Rc instead of x.

Now, if you think you have got a hang of the basics you can start cubing.

The Technique

I will be showing you two techniques. The first one is a simple easy to follow guide that will get you to solving the cube. It is not a fast method; however you will be able to solve the Rubik's cube and showoff to some friends. The second technique is a combination technique but largely relying on a method called the Fridrich Method.

If you really want to solve the cube fast, you will need to learn how to speedcube. The most common technique used for speed cubing is the Fridrich Method. Other methods out there are the VH (Vandenbergh-Harris) System, ZB (Zborowski- Bruchem) System, and the Lars Petrus Method.

Most systems / methods do solve the cube either layer by layer or blocks of 2x2 but always finishing with solving the First 2 Layers (F2L). The final 2 steps are Orienting the Last Layer (OLL) and Permutations of the Last Layer (PLL), which will be explained in detail later on. The most common methods employ the CFOP system which is the Cross, F2L, OLL and PLL.

I will mainly cover the Fridrich and Petrus Methods because I use them the most. In fact I use a combination of both to solve the cube. I currently take just over 3 minutes to solve.

Solving the Cube for Beginners

One thing that often disheartens beginners is the inability to see themselves solving the cube and this often results with an early quit. So, I will show you all the steps required for you to solve the cube, however this is probably the slowest method I know of. It is repetitious and uses extra algorithms, but you will be able to solve the cube about 90% of the time in the beginning and 100% with lots of practice. I believe the method used here is actually good practice for beginners particularly to familiarize with the Rubik's Cube and how to move its cubelets about. We'll start by getting the corners together first as I find that this helps beginners to familiarize with the colour seating. However, once you can do this reasonably well, I would suggest that you use the CFOP system.

The X

We will start by working on the White face. So, position the White face on top. Now look for all the 4 corners that have a White on it. Take note of its location.

Begin by turning one white corner to the white face. Then note the 2 colours on its side.
You next step is to match the next corner with one of these colours. The illustration (a) shows how two corners (Blue-Orange) have been placed. Notice the White is on top. The Blue-Orange corner was positioned first, followed by the Blue-Red Corner. By building it this way, you would eventually end up with all four corners in the correct positions.
Finally turn the top layer so that the corner colours match the centres of all 4 sides. Illustration (b) shows how the four corners should be positioned and matched.

(a)

(b)

Completing the First Layer

The next step is completing the white face.

The first step is to locate all the white edges.

Then position them in between the appropriate corners. This process will form a T on each face.

You may rotate your cube but only on the y-axis, which means you must constantly maintain the white face on top and the yellow face at the bottom.

Following are 5 basic situations you may encounter in moving the edges to the fist layer and their solutions. Of course there are other situations but you should be able to orientate the selected edge piece to one of the positions below by rotating E, E' D and D'.

For now you can ignore which direction the white face is at. As long as you don't move the white corners off, you may turn it till you get all the edges in and then you can place it back to its correct face.The examples below demonstrate the white-orange edge.

E R' E' R

S D S'

R E2 R'

M' D M S D2 S'

D M S D2 S'

If you were to get a white on top but not in the right place, just move it out and you will find yourself in one of the above situations. The following illustrates how to do this.

	S D S'

First 2 Layers

Now that you have completed the First Layer you can proceed to complete the second layer. There are only 2 algorithms for you to remember.

You are allowed to rotate your cube to find the pieces, but only on the y-axis. This means that you will constantly maintain the White face on top and the Yellow face at the bottom. The following are the basic situations you would face with the Blue-Orange face and their solutions.

Step one is to find the Blue that sits on the bottom layer with the blue facing one of the sides. Turn that blue to form a long T with the Blue face. This will create one of 2 situations. Look at the bottom to decide which one you have. This will tell you if you need to move the edge piece into the left or right side of the T, then simply deploy the appropriate algorithm.

D' (R' D R D) F D' F'

D (L D' L' D') F' D F

If the both the cubelets (Blue-Orange and Blue-Red) have the Blue at the bottom, just use the Orange or Red faces and make the same moves.

Occasionally you will face a situation where the edge piece in the right place but not in the right angle. If it is on the left side (as in the picture) then you execute the first algorithm above. This will place that edge piece at the back and on the bottom layer.

You can then add a D2 move and repeat the same algorithm. This will place the edge piece into its place properly.

You may also execute the following algorithm:

[D' (R' D R D) F D' F'] D [(R' D R D) F D' F']

The Yellow Cross

You have now successfully completed the F2L or First 2 Layers. Now rotate the cube on its x-axis twice. This will place the yellow face on the top and the white face on the bottom. You wouldn't need to do this if you were employing the Fridrich Method or most other systems because you would be solving the white face as the bottom layer.

The next step is making a cross on the yellow face (see picture on the left). In the Fridrich Method you wouldn't even go through this step, but you would have to memorize 57 algorithms. For the purpose of assisting a beginner in solving the cube, this step will be divided into 2 algorithms.

Note: If you already have the Cross like so, then you can skip this step completely and just proceed to the next step.

You should see one of the following patterns. Rotate the cube so that it faces you as in the diagrams below. Take note of only the yellow colours. Then execute this algorithm repeatedly until you get the cross. Refer to the diagrams below after each execution.

F (R U R' U') F'

The Corner Alignment – Niklas Algorithm

This step is also skipped in the Fridrich Method. The objective is to place the edges in the right places. So, first find 2 corners with matching colours then rotate them next to its face.

Here you see the same cube from 2 angles. All the corners and edges now have one yellow face. So, ignore the yellow for now and just focus on the other colours. You will notice that the Blue-Orange corner is in the right position and so is the Blue-Red corner.

The Green-Red and The Green-Orange however is not. So, you will need to fix this.

Next, place the face with the correct corners on your left. With the example above, that would be the blue, making the Red your Front. Actually, you don't need to worry which colour is facing you at this point. You simply want to switch the two corners on your right hand. Now execute the following algorithm : L U' R' U L' U' R U2

This should set all the corners to the right positions and you should still see the Cross.

Sometimes you may encounter the pattern on the right. If this occurs, Place it like in the diagram and execute the Corner Alignment twice. Once again this is not the fastest algorithm but it will get you the result without much confusion.

Orienting the Last Layer (OLL) – The Sune

This step brings all the yellows to the top. They may not all be in the right positions yet though. Once again, position the cross like in the diagram below. and execute the following algorithm: R U R' U R U2 R' U2

This algorithm is called the Sune. You may have to perform the Sune up to 4 times before you see all yellows on the top face.

Permutation of the Last Layer (PLL)

This is the final step.

By now you should have one completed side and all corners in the right places. If no edges on the last layer is in the right position, then simply execute the algorithm and that should solve the problem. This algorithm actually rotates 3 edges. Now, place the completed side on your left hand and execute the following algorithm:

R2 U F B' R2 R' B U R2

R2 U' F B' R2 R' B U' R2

Your cube is solved!

You have finally solved the cube. The best way to improve is Practice! Practice! Practice!

If you have a good cube you should be able to solve it in less than 4 minutes, after loads of practice. The best is to play each algorithm and understand how the pieces move about the cube. You next step is Speedcubing. If you wish to learn how to speedcube, master the Sune and the two PLL above first. However, memorising the algorithms is not enough. It is important for you to understand how they work and what they do to each cubelet.

Conspiracy in the Gaza incident

2009-01-22T03:04:00.000-08:00

It all makes sense actually.

Fucked

2008-11-01T18:31:00.000-07:00

I used to wake up every morning, brush my teeth, pull my pants down for a piss, make a hot cup of coffee and sit at the dining table wondering “What am I doing all this for?” Why do I stress myself at work to earn a measly wage, spend 14 hours at the office, sleep 4 hours, battle traffic the rest of it, fuck up relationships and crash on weekends out of sheer exhaustion?

Is life really meant to be that mundane that we revolve around this endless, frustrating cycle if only to get our hands on the iPhone and bugger the rest of our income on booze just so we can feel something? What is life if that is all it is? I have for days on end tried to make sense of it all only to find that everybody else is doing is the same thing and that they actually believe that this is what life is meant to be. Why marry someone if you are hardly ever going to spend any time with them? Why put so much neck breaking effort into pleasing the bosses and clients and not an ounce into making our partners smile? Are we so senile that we have become numb from taking inhumane verbal drive bys from the people who sign our cheques every month? Where is our dignity? Where is our sense of self-worth? Why is it that the opinions of others take precedence from our families and friends? We as human beings left humanity in a dumpster on a very dark and dank alley so long ago that we have grown and rooted into the cold abyss of emptiness. The lines between reality and superficiality have become so blurred we feel most comfortable after getting drunk like a monkey and making out with some stranger or getting into a stupid fist fight over something that was said and done 200 years ago.

The time for a self evaluation is more pertinent now than ever. We really need to take a step back and ask ourselves if selfishness the only way to survive in this God forsaken city. What is it that defines us? What would your family and friends really remember you for when maggot crawl into the hollowed sockets of your eyeballs?

“Here lies the man who became the Managing Director” or “He defeated many rivals and destroyed many careers”

Is that your epitaph?

Love

2008-09-04T01:44:00.000-07:00

There is nothing greater and yet more painful than love and even more true when you give without conditions with chaste. True love can build you to be the person that you truly are... read more

Dead Sea Scrolls to Cyberspace

2008-08-28T19:01:00.000-07:00

I don't know if any of you would find this interesting but I thought I'd share this information with you. If you have not heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls, it is a series of documents discovered between 1947 and 1979 in eleven caves in and around the Wadi Qumran on the west bank of the Dead Sea. These scrolls are of great religious and historical significance, as they include practically the only known surviving copies of Biblical documents made before 100 AD.

I want to know more.

TDK Does It Again

2008-08-06T04:06:00.000-07:00

The Dark Knight crossed the $400mil mark.
Read more...

Not Here

2008-08-03T15:18:00.001-07:00

Under the oak tree on the hill by a restless brook

Taking in all that is God’s beauty

Here, I rested lightly

However you were not here

And when the evening purple seized the horizon

Swallows danced in the sky

By now, weary grew I

Why were you not here?

TDK Breaks More Box Office Records

2008-07-29T19:42:00.001-07:00

Audiences once again filled theaters all weekend for the superhero blockbuster The Dark Knight which grossed an estimated $75.6M dropping a reasonable 52% from its record-breaking opening weekend. With the cume soaring to an eye-popping $314.2M after only ten days, the Warner Bros. release shattered the $300M mark in record time. The old record was held by Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest which banked $258.4M of loot over its first ten days and crossed the triple-century mark in 16 days.
Read more...

Movie Review

2008-07-25T06:28:00.000-07:00

Sex and the City is out.
Read my view of the silver screen release of this Emmy and Golden Globe award winning television series.

Read more...

An Introduction to Computers

2008-07-21T13:05:00.000-07:00

Learn some basic essentials before you run out to purchase your next computer. These articles have been designed with simplicity in mind and will help you to better understand what you will be getting for your hard earned money.

How to choose the right computer?
What is the best brand of computers?
Read more...

TDK leads in the Box Office

2008-07-20T22:11:00.000-07:00

The Dark Knight is leading the race at $155mil in Box Office takings. read more....

Dark Knight

2008-07-16T04:48:00.000-07:00

Today is the day.
Over a year of waiting and it is finally here.

Read my thoughts about comic book movies "Comic Onslaught"

Read my review of the Dark Knight movie here...

Innovation

2007-12-02T05:44:00.000-08:00

Grumman's X29

I wrote this for an event launch but was never looked at because the concept had change before anything could happen. But I though it is good enough to be blogged up. I chose not to place it at Nonsensical Babbler as this is not something I'd sit down and think about. Henry Thoreau quoted "it is not what you look at, but whta you see". Anyway check it out, who knows someone might want to use it for an event sometime. Ha! Ha!

Isaac Newton did not discover gravity. He only acknowledged it.
Henry Ford did not invent the car. He only found a way to produce it efficiently.
Bill Gates did not invent a computer. He only found a way to place it on your table.
Paul & Joe Galvin did not invent the cell phone. They only disliked having a cable attached to it.
Ray Croc did not invent the hamburger. He only wanted the world to buy his.
Howard Hughes did not invent the airplane. He only decided that two seats weren’t enough.
Jack Daniels did not create whiskey. He only loved drinking it a lot.

Confucius said that Necessity is the father of invention. We say – Recognition is the mother of innovation.

Innovation.
What is Innovation?
The dictionary defines Innovation as “The act of starting something for the first time”. However, that is only the definition of the word.
Innovation is not a simple creation. Innovation is the recognition of the potential of a creation. Innovation is having the courage to do what no one will; to be what no one dares and to boldly go where no one have been before. Innovation can only come from a passion.

Innovation is not being here when change begins; but beginning change when you are here.

Are you here?

Welcome

2007-07-07T01:34:00.000-07:00

First and foremost I'd like to say thank you for visiting my blog. I have always loved writing ever since school days but never took myself seriously. I also felt that I haven't had enough reading exposure partly due to Malaysia's inferior school system when it come to the English Language, partly due to a lack in fund and it was also rather difficult to get good books in Malaysia. Malaysians are not habitual readers and as such our exposure to book only goes as far as teachers, friends and family. Unfortunately, I am the only reader in my family. Also, it was only in the last five years or so did book stores begin to bring in a wider selection of book. So what was it that got me going on a blog? One night on January 8th, 2002 I wrote this article about life and how we often wait for other to make the first move. Everyone who read it said that it was really good and that I should take this more seriously. It took a few years of constant reminders from friends before I finally moved my behind. I first started blogging in September 2005 through Friendster. Unfortunately though I was unable to spare that much time writing and as a result I only have twenty or so articles. I am now in the process of transferring my Friendster blog over to Blogger as it seems to have more options and facilities. I have divided my stuff into three seperate blogs. They are:

Nonsensical Babbler - My mindless ranting about life as I see it;
Digital Anecdotes - Basics about computers; and
Celluloid Speaks - My views and reviews on movies that I've watched.

Well there you have it. I do hope that you will enjoy them. For those of you who have been constantly checking my blog for new articles, bear with me. I will feed new materials soon. I would also appreciate it if you could leave a comment or two, even suggestions. I know that there are quite a few of you out there who have been reading every article of mine, and I'd like to know who you are.

Thank you and enjoy reading.

To Boldly Go Where No One Have Gone

Feeling Stupid

2007-06-08T00:41:00.001-07:00

Writing is a passion that seems to bleed out of me naturally; talent or curse to mankind – you decide.

Knowing that I needed to explore this talent, I craved for literature that was not easily accessible to the public school’s syllabus at the time, that I memorized the only piece I could get my hands on – Edgar Allan Poe’s “Raven”. I never really accepted that I may have some potential until just a few years back when I first wrote “Listening to the Winds”.

While chatting about my writing over coffee at Starbucks a few weeks back; my mind brought back a memory that I had long forgotten. I do believe that to be the funniest thing that had ever happened to me and probably the most stupid. It occurred in 1989 when my parents insisted that I sit for an “O” Level English paper to show my future employees that I can speak and write the language I had only used since I was born. My father sent me to two centres for 2 hours tuition classes twice a week to learn English and it baffled the teachers as much as it did me. It would have been more palatable had it been English Literature or Creative Writing or something on an advanced level; instead I was in English 101 for beginners. On one occasion, my teacher had handed out an assignment that we were to complete in the hour. It was a past year’s question as usual and it seemed to me to be the only thing that typical classroom teachers knew off. Taking a non-creative approach, my teacher then proceeded to instruct us to write creatively. So I wrote the two page essay and handed it in at the end of the class. Two weeks had passed and life went on as it always does, when I stepped into English class on a cloudy Sunday afternoon. My teacher had by this time completed grading the essays we all wrote the fortnight prior and was rather disappointed with the general results. She then proceeded to read what was to her, a well written example from the task that we were given. Naturally we all assumed that this had come from some straight ace student who now worked diligently from 9am to 9pm in a six-by-six cubicle somewhere in the heart of Neo-Roma. The first two paragraphs were so well written that it actually caught the short attention span that I have. As she continued into the third I whispered to my classmate that the essay sounded somewhat familiar. He was mesmerized and so were the rest of the class; whether it was the essay or the perfect articulation of our teacher’s voice I could not tell, but by the time she reached the final paragraph I was absolutely certain that I had read this essay before and was now trying to remember when and where from did I read it. I naturally verbalised these thoughts to my friend who was getting rather annoyed by the distraction I was causing. After what seem to me an eternity, I was to finally learn of the author’s name and quite possibly end this scratching the back of my head trying to retrieve a memory bank with my fingers. Half a minute later, I received an idiot smack to the back of my head compliments of my “O” Level English buddy. The rest of the class was laughing and the teacher had a “lost for words” expression on her face.

It turned out that the well written essay sample that impressed my teacher and I was written by “me, myself and I”. That really felt stupid and my buddy announcing my memory lapse to the whole class just added salt to the wound.

'Nuff Said