Week 2 of Rubik Cube Quest

Good Afternoon Cubers and Bloggers alike!!

Today marks the third blog of my project to learn how to complete a Rubik's cube. As the spring goes on, I find more and more opportunities to work on the project. Being a "fun" assignment, I usually find myself working on the cube more than some other homework simply because it is a good manipulative to use to just take your mind off whatever may be filling it. This being said, it has been a surprisingly good de-stressor for me in a spring full of sports, homework, and activities. The cube has its resting place on my night stand and it is always a reminder of this interesting area of school assigned work. The whole concept of 20 time has been a really refreshing thing to do in school. If you would like to learn more about this "20 Time" that I have mentioned, click the link below.

http://www.20timeineducation.com/

Now, onto my update on the rubik's cube adventure......

I have had lots of sports bus rides, afternoons when I can't focus, and random 5 minute periods where I have nothing better to do than work to try and get this thing solved. I have been really focusing on learning the algorithms needed to get the "preliminary" step which is where there is a cross taking up one of the sides of the cube. This seems easy enough, however, the disclaimer here is that there have to be two, same-colored cubes on the adjacent face and row as each of the cross arms. I almost got here, it looks like this....

Notice that the white side is the first side you ALWAYS use to form the cross, then the red and blue sides (indicated by the center cube color) on the bottom and left face have at least two cubes of the same color adjacent to the white cross cubes on the bottom and left of the white cross face.

The issue I am having, is getting the other right and back faces this way. Where I am running a muck is with the green and orange faces. The yellow face is on the bottom and we will worry about it later. Anyways, the green and orange faces are almost there, it is so agonizing. I can't seem to find a way to swap the cubes I need into the place where the other is. Here's what it looks like now.....

Notice that the top orange cube and the top green cube are above the colored cube of the green center cube and the orange center cube respectively. This is my dilemma, it is harder to move cubes you want to while keeping the finished ones from being re-jumbled. Ahhhhhhh!!!! So as I figure out how to fix this issue, and continue to learn the algorithms, I will leave you here. See you next week!!! If you have been following these blogs so far, and want to cube too, they sell Rubik's at Barne's & Noble Bookstores or any other toy shop really. Try and follow along with these blog posts and maybe even the site I have been using with the link below.

www.solve-the-cube.com/                              

Have a great day and cube on!!!!!

Week 1 of Rubik's Cube Quest

Good Evening my Rubik's Cube solving followers!!

Do not be alarmed at the publishing time of this blog, when the schedules get full, homework and blogging of course, must run late.

As for my progress this week, I found a rubiks cube that had been so graciously solved by I dont know who. I wanted to document the starting result for my quest, so you can see below two pictures varifying that the cube can, and has been solved before, just not by me. We're on a mission to change that!!!


   

So here is where things got interesting.......
I jumbled the cube and said goodbye to the neat rows and columns of same colored squares. Here is where I was after that....


So the quest to solve this 3x3 cube of complexity and wonder now begins officially. I looked up why the rubiks cube is so hard to solve, and my fears were quickly confirmed as I learned that there are 519 quintillion possible arraingments of the cubes AND ONLY 1 SOLUTION. Yes, my fellow cubers, that is 519,000,000,000,000,000 possible ways this thing can be wrong!!! Is your head starting to hurt yet??...
Hope not, because I'm not completely terrible at this, within 5 minutes, i was able to get one side done which means we're 1/6th of the way here. I even proved it for you, check out the blue side I got!!!

So as I continue the quest in learning how this thing works, and how to use the new algorithms I'm finding, to solve this beast.
You'll hear from me next week! Hopefully I will have figured out another side by then, or even started getting all the colors onto the sides they need to be in the characteristic crosses that mean I am on the right track!!

Over and out, Cube on!!!!!