Decoding the Cube: My personal journey

 

Most of us will have this toy- the one with 6 sides, 6 colors, with all moving parts and confusing with all colors mixed up. That is a Rubik’s cube.

It is one of the world's toughest puzzles which when solved will have the same color grouped together on one side.  

This is how it looks when solved!

                                                                

My journey with the Rubik’s cube started not long ago, in mid-2019 when my cousins from Canada visited. My cousin is the one who influenced me to start cubing. One day, I saw him holding the Rubik’s cube. He mixed it up and then within a minute he swiftly solved it! I was astonished! Was it possible to solve this cube in under a minute? 

I was impressed by the way he was handling it, clean and lubing it; this inspired me to start learning from him. So, I took a Rubik’s cube which was in the corner of my house and sat next to him. Then he started educating me about the sides, the moves, the directions, and the algorithms.

The first thing I learned was- solving the ‘White cross’. After this, I slowly finished the white side! I felt thrilled and more intrigued towards the Rubik’s cube. I was more eager to solve it. This surely felt like a victory.

After about two months of learning, watching YouTube tutorials, and memorizing algorithms with the help of index cards, I solved my first cube!!! I was overjoyed, the thing I had considered to be impossible, I had done it!

I showed it to my friends and they too got captivated by the Rubik’s cube and tried to solve it too!

Doing further research on the origins I came to know that it was created by Hungarian architect Ernő Rubik in the 1970s, who initially created the cube to teach his class, but instead, it ended teaching the whole world about logic and algorithms! He himself took about 2 months to solve it.  

It is stupendous how a small ‘toy’ could contain so much math and science.

Solving the 3×3 cube was just the beginning for me, I wanted to learn to solve more types of cubes like and try solving the 3×3 in under a minute. I was also mesmerized by seeing the speed of world champion speed-cubers like Felix Zemdegs and Max Park! I too want to match their speeds one day.

Slowly and steadily, I learned to solve a few other cubes too- 2×2, 4×4, pyraminx, and mirror cube with the help of my cousin and YouTube. Now I can solve the 3×3 cube in an average of 45 seconds (trying to bring it down to fewer seconds) and am exploring new algorithms.

Learning to solve the Rubik’s cube is something I will always cherish as it has given me the zeal to be inquisitive and joy in mathematics. It is my ‘boredom buster!’

What do you think? Are you ready to be mind-blown by this puzzle?!? If you are, then go get your Rubik's cube and start trying to figure out how to solve it!!!

Also tell me what your boredom buster is, in the comments …