I've known how to solve the Rubik's cube very quickly for nearly a year now and whenever I solve it in front of some they always ask if I'm really smart, what level math i'm in, etc.
To me the Rubik's cube has nothing to do with these subjects at all so why do they make these assumptions?
I mean, you really don't need to be smart to solve the cube, you just need to spend a bit of free time.
2006-09-24 12:48:22 · 7 answers · asked by dan 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Mathematics
Dan,
Uh, it's a math puzzle about spacial relations and spacial planning. If you were "spacy" about math, you would not have solved it, you would have given up on it.
You may not think that's math talent, but it is. Let me give you another example. Knots and knot-typing and picking the "right" knot for a job are also pure mathematics (topography) but must people don't think of it that way.
2006-09-24 12:52:13 · answer #1 · answered by urbancoyote 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I, with of course all modesty, am probably the top math student in my high school. I recieved a cube two years ago for Christmas, and if I had not looked at the solution help book that came with it, I almost certainly would never have solved it. With that help, about a week took me from solving it in half an hour to taking only five minutes (My latest record is 42 seconds). I didn't spend that time computing algorithms, I just practiced the solving the cube.
In short, I think I know what you mean. People see me soving my cube, and say, "Whoa, I can never do those things." They never seem convinced that they _could_ solve the cube if they knew how. Possibly this is because I'm terrible at wording myself: just look at my previous sentence.
What I'm trying to say is that while it must take some tricky ambiguous math-type stuff to determine cube-solving combinations, I agree that doing the solving itself can be mastered quite separately from said math.
2006-09-24 14:34:32 · answer #2 · answered by Mehoo 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Check out the three websites below. They offer some explanation of how mathematical algorithms and group theory relate to Rubik's cube.
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/RubiksCube.html
http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/56783.html
http://web.usna.navy.mil/~wdj/rubik_nts.htm
2006-09-24 12:51:41 · answer #3 · answered by lcamccandlj 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't know how to solve the cube myself, but I presume it comes down to pattern recognition. The people who say you must be some kind of math whiz (a) don't know much about Rubik's cubes, (b) don't know much about math, and (c) don't think well in general. You will find that most humans are like that.
2006-09-24 12:57:05 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 3⤋
It's an example of a type of permutation algebra. And it's the kind of thing you won't see until you've been in graduate school for a couple of years ☺
Doug
2006-09-24 12:58:16 · answer #5 · answered by doug_donaghue 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You need to understand 3D spatial relationships
2006-09-24 12:49:27 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
2006-09-24 12:52:01 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 2⤋