Rubik's cube - Childs play?

[ideasguy]

James (our grandson) has been playing with a Rubik's cube for a couple of months now.
First he managed to complete one side. He asked me to scramble it and time how long it took to get one side done again.
About 1 minute.

Then he managed to get 2 rows completed.
I told him I knew he was going to do it, and asked him to phone as soon as he solved it.

This morning, iPad started making noises - Facetime request - and there he was - proud as punch, turning the faces of the Rubik's cube to show me the finished article
I was more excited than him
I told him I used to have one when at University, and try as I might, I never finished it.

His dad (Julian) emailed a photo to stamp a date on the momentous occasion.
Thought I'd share it here, as you know I frequently refer to the things James and I do in the garden.
Heres the little star:



How did he do it? To be continued...

[NightHawk]

Hats off to James, what an accomplishment.  WOW! 

I got a Rubik's Cube many, many years ago (and still have it actually), but I never managed to complete it unaided.

I say unaided, as I purchased a small book that gave the solution.  I think I still have the book somewhere as well.  Even with the book, I found it quite a complicated process, which makes James's result that much more amazing.

Looking forward to hearing his solution technique.  Good luck with describing that George 

[Palustris]

It was one of my party tricks when I was teaching. I could solve it in  a very short time, much to the delight of my pupils. Last time I tried, I could not remember for the life of me how I used to do it. Ah well. good on James.

[ideasguy]

Good on you as well Eric! That was a cool way to impress the pupils

RE: from Laurie:

Looking forward to hearing his solution technique.  Good luck with describing that George

He found videos on the internet - how to solve Rubik's cube.
He tried one for quite a while, but couldn't get it finished.
He tried another video this morning. There were similarities in some of the steps he had learned in the first video, but it was explained differently and he told me he had the puzzle solved in 15 mins.

10 out of 10 for persistence (and a little encouragement from his fans )
I'm not sure I would be able to follow the steps from a video

Immediately he announced that he wants the more complicated version. The standard one (in the pic above) has 3 rows x 3 deep i.e. 9 squares per face.
He wants the 4x4 cube.
That should be a RIGHT challenge!!

[Palustris]

Not as cool as catching a tennis ball on the BACK of my hand!

[ideasguy]

Comment from his Uncle Simon:

He's some kid! Certainly the first I know to finish it who hadn't swapped the stickers around

[Palustris]

Trouble with doing that is that from then on, it is almost impossible to solve it again, unless they put the stickers back on in the correct way.

[ideasguy]

Interesting! Maybe that's why the first Videos James used didn't work Perhaps the solution was for one with the stickers scrambled? 

[Palustris]

No idea, but like a dice where the numbers are always in the right place (to add up to 7), the colours have to be as they were designed for any solution to work. Or at least that is what I found. Mind it was over 25 years ago,

[ideasguy]

I made a movie using iPad. It was too big to email (Jamesey took far too long - 3 mins  ) and it restricted me to selecting and emailing parts of the video.

Heres the end bit (turn on sound for a giggle):
a) Viewing on a computer
http://www.cultivars.co.uk/forum/james-doing-rubiks-cube-End-Bit.wmv

b) Viewing on an iPad
http://www.cultivars.co.uk/forum/James-doing-Rubiks-cube-End bit.MOV

[NightHawk]

Excellent George.

James makes it look so easy, when in actual fact it's not 

[ideasguy]

I can testify to that Laurie. I've spent many hours on it in my youth.

Anytime I need a smile, I will play that Video and enjoy his reactions at the end.
I might even learn how to do it myself

His Dad has now bought him a 2x2 (for older folk and toddlers?), a 4x4 and a 5x5 Rubiks cube.
That should keep everyone amused