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| Author | James G. Nourse |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Dusan Krajan |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Bantam Books |
Publication date | June 1981 |
| Media type | Print Paperback |
| Pages | 64 |
| ISBN | 0-553-14017-5 |
| OCLC | 7627746 |
The Simple Solution to Rubik's Cube by James G. Nourse is a book that was published in 1981. The book explains how to solve the Rubik's Cube. The book became the best-selling book of 1981, selling 6,680,000 copies that year. It was the fastest-selling title in the 36-year history of Bantam Books.
Nourse wrote the book at the age of 33 while on the staff of the Chemistry Department at Stanford University. [1] Shortly before Christmas 1980 he bought a Rubik's Cube intending to give it away as a present. [2] Instead he spent the holiday season working out a solution (a "Layer by Layer" method), which he published as a 32-page pamphlet for the university bookstore. [2] It reached the hands of a publisher at Bantam who persuaded Nourse to expand the guide into a 64-page book. [2]
The book was published June 1981. [2] It became the best-selling book of 1981, selling 6,680,000 copies that year. [1] It was the fastest-selling title in the 36-year history of Bantam Books. [1]
In November 1981 Nourse published a sequel, The Simple Solutions to Cubic Puzzles, as an aid to the numerous puzzles that were spawned by the Cube-craze. [2]
The book begins with a summary of the history of the development of the Rubik's cube by Ernö Rubik and apparently independently by Terutoshi Ishige. The James Nourse method has several features that distinguish it from others:
The book's solution to the cube was considered to be one of the easiest, simplest, and most straightforward solutions to solving the cube.
Many later solutions to Rubik's Cube published on the internet seem to be based at least in part on the solution in this book.
The relatively few sequences one is required to memorize makes it one of the easiest solutions to remember — but this incurs the cost of a relatively high number of moves for a solution — about 100 moves average according to the book on page 54. The author claims he can solve random cube problems by this method in about 2 1/2 minutes (IBID p.54).
However, this ease and simplicity involves a tradeoff in that this solution takes longer than other solutions that are harder and more complex. [3]
In his book, Nourse used an original notation different from that of David Singmaster, which was not yet widely known in 1981. What Nourse called T and B (for Top and Bottom), became popularly known as U and D (for Up and Down). To avoid single-letter ambiguity, the rear face is called Posterior, represented by P (although none of the algorithms presented in the book actually uses the posterior face in its move sequences).
Clockwise and counterclockwise moves are made explicit with + and − (instead of relying on primes to denote counterclockwise, and their absence to denote clockwise).
Thus, for example, Nourse gives the algorithm for rotating three corners of the bottom face anticlockwise (solving the position Lars Petrus named the "Sune" [4] ) as follows:
R− B− R+ B− R− B2 R+ B2
In Singmaster's notation, the same move sequence would be written:
R' D' R D' R' D2 R D2
The book mentions speed cubing on page 56 — citing the following times:
Given the method requires an average of 100 moves for a solve (IBID p.54), this would be fairly reasonable for the time. However as better methods (i.e. more complex but faster), and better cubes have become available — in 2023 this would have to be revised:
The better methods allow solves in 50-70 moves, and optimal solutions exist at around 20 moves — this greatly improves the ability to solve a cube quickly independently of how dexterous a cuber may be.
The book ends with a section detailing various patterns one can create with the cube, including: Shooting Star, Boxes, spelling the words 'OHIO', and 'JACK', and a cubic alphabet to form 3x3 letters of the alphabet from A-Z. (IBID p.59)
The following HelpCard provides a one-page synopsis of the solution detailed in the book.
The Rubik's Cube is a 3-D combination puzzle originally invented in 1974 by Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik. Originally called the Magic Cube, the puzzle was licensed by Rubik to be sold by Pentangle Puzzles in the UK in 1978, and then by Ideal Toy Corp in 1980 via businessman Tibor Laczi and Seven Towns founder Tom Kremer. The cube was released internationally in 1980 and became one of the most recognized icons in popular culture. It won the 1980 German Game of the Year special award for Best Puzzle. As of January 2009, 350 million cubes had been sold worldwide, making it the world's bestselling puzzle game and bestselling toy. The Rubik's Cube was inducted into the US National Toy Hall of Fame in 2014.
The Rubik's Revenge is a 4×4×4 version of the Rubik's Cube. It was released in 1981. Invented by Péter Sebestény, the cube was nearly called the Sebestény Cube until a somewhat last-minute decision changed the puzzle's name to attract fans of the original Rubik's Cube. Unlike the original puzzle, it has no fixed facets: the centre facets are free to move to different positions.
Optimal solutions for Rubik's Cube refer to solutions that are the shortest. There are two common ways to measure the length of a solution. The first is to count the number of quarter turns. The second is to count the number of outer-layer twists, called "face turns". A move to turn an outer layer two quarter (90°) turns in the same direction would be counted as two moves in the quarter turn metric (QTM), but as one turn in the face metric.
The Pocket Cube is a 2×2×2 version of the Rubik's Cube. The cube consists of 8 pieces, all corners.
Speedcubing is a competitive sport involving solving a variety of combination puzzles, the most famous being the 3x3x3 puzzle or Rubik's Cube, as quickly as possible. A person who practices solving twisty puzzles competitively is known as a speedcuber, or a cuber. For most puzzles, solving involves performing a series of moves, known as algorithms, that alters a scrambled puzzle into a solved state, in which every face of the puzzle is a single, solid color.
The Professor's Cube is a 5×5×5 version of the original Rubik's Cube. It has qualities in common with both the 3×3×3 Rubik's Cube and the 4×4×4 Rubik's Revenge, and solution strategies for both can be applied.
The Pyraminx is a regular tetrahedron puzzle in the style of Rubik's Cube. It was made and patented by Uwe Mèffert after the original 3 layered Rubik's Cube by Ernő Rubik, and introduced by Tomy Toys of Japan in 1981.
David Breyer Singmaster was an American-British mathematician who was emeritus professor of mathematics at London South Bank University, England. He had a huge personal collection of mechanical puzzles and books of brain teasers. He was most famous for being an early adopter and enthusiastic promoter of the Rubik's Cube. His Notes on Rubik's "Magic Cube" which he began compiling in 1979 provided the first mathematical analysis of the Cube as well as providing one of the first published solutions. The book contained his cube notation which allowed the recording of Rubik's Cube moves, and which quickly became the standard.
The Square-1 is a variant of the Rubik's Cube. Its distinguishing feature among the numerous Rubik's Cube variants is that it can change shape as it is twisted, due to the way it is cut, thus adding an extra level of challenge and difficulty. The Super Square One and Square Two puzzles have also been introduced. The Super Square One has two additional layers that can be scrambled and solved independently of the rest of the puzzle, and the Square Two has extra cuts made to the top and bottom layer, making the edge and corner wedges the same size.
The Megaminx or Mégaminx is a dodecahedron-shaped puzzle similar to the Rubik's Cube. It has a total of 50 movable pieces to rearrange, compared to the 20 movable pieces of the Rubik's Cube.
The Rubik's Cube group is a group that represents the structure of the Rubik's Cube mechanical puzzle. Each element of the set corresponds to a cube move, which is the effect of any sequence of rotations of the cube's faces. With this representation, not only can any cube move be represented, but also any position of the cube as well, by detailing the cube moves required to rotate the solved cube into that position. Indeed with the solved position as a starting point, there is a one-to-one correspondence between each of the legal positions of the Rubik's Cube and the elements of . The group operation is the composition of cube moves, corresponding to the result of performing one cube move after another.
Lars Erik Petrus is an accomplished speedcuber. He has been described as a Rubik's Cube icon and master
The CFOP method, also known as the Fridrich method, is one of the most commonly used methods in speedsolving a 3×3×3 Rubik's Cube. This method was first developed in the early 1980s combining innovations by a number of speed cubers. Czech speedcuber and the namesake of the method Jessica Fridrich is generally credited for popularizing it by publishing it online in 1997.
God's algorithm is a notion originating in discussions of ways to solve the Rubik's Cube puzzle, but which can also be applied to other combinatorial puzzles and mathematical games. It refers to any algorithm which produces a solution having the fewest possible moves. The allusion to the Deity is based on an assumption that only an omniscient being would know an optimal step from any given configuration.
Bob Burton is an American speedcuber, most famous for competing in and organizing competitions all over the world and his former world records on the Rubik's Magic and Rubik's Master Magic.
Nicolas Hammond is a British Rubik's Cube expert and businessman. He has lived in the US since 1986. He made the world's first Internet banking transaction.
The superflip or 12-flip is a Rubik's Cube configuration in which all 20 of the movable subcubes are in the correct permutation, and the eight corners are correctly oriented, but all twelve of the edges are oriented incorrectly ("flipped"). It has been shown that the shortest path between a solved cube and the Superflip position requires 20 moves under the usual half-turn metric (HTM), and that no position requires more moves.
The Layer by Layer method, also known as the beginners method, is a method of solving the 3x3x3 Rubik's Cube. Many beginners' methods use this approach, and it also forms the basis of the CFOP speedcubing technique.
The Pyraminx Duo is a tetrahedral twisty puzzle in the style of the Rubik's Cube. It was suggested by Rob Stegmann, invented by Oskar van Deventer, and has now been mass-produced by Meffert's.
The Gear Cube is a 3-D combination puzzle designed and created by Dutch puzzle maker Oskar van Deventer based on an idea by Bram Cohen. It was initially produced by Shapeways in 2009 and known as "Caution Cube" due to the likelihood of getting one's fingers stuck between the gears while speedcubing. Later, in 2010, it was mass-produced by Meffert's as the "Gear Cube".
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