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"God's Number" for the Rubik's cube - twenty moves


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At the risk of upsetting religious types, the theoretical "perfect algorithm" for solving Rubik's cube - that is, the algorithm that would always solve it, no matter what the starting position, in the minimum possible number of moves - has long been known as "God's Algorithm" ... reflecting the fact that God, if he was interested in the Rubik's Cube at all, would always solve it perfectly. "God's Number," by the same token, is the largest number of moves that is ever absolutely necessary to solve the Cube.

 

It is now claimed that, no matter what the starting position of the Cube, it is possible to solve it in twenty moves or less. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10929159

 

Actually writing down a formula that you could follow in order to achieve this, is probably still a long way off.

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;6571686']Nothing too special when you consider that puzzle cubes of different sizes have a different number of minimum moves?

 

They may go on to investigate other puzzles of different sizes. This is certainly not something I would dedicate thirty years of my life to figuring out, although I find the results interesting.

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Why would it upset "religious types"?

 

Certain religious types - a small minority in any religion, it must be said - get offended whenever the word "God" is used in any context outside of their own religion. Some would be offended at the very notion that God might play the Rubik's Cube.

 

It would be a silly thing over which to take offence, but I dare say that some people still would do so.

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They may go on to investigate other puzzles of different sizes. This is certainly not something I would dedicate thirty years of my life to figuring out, although I find the results interesting.
What I'm wondering is whether the same algorithm for the 3x3 cube can be used for any cube just by changing a few factors....
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;6571727']What I'm wondering is whether the same algorithm for the 3x3 cube can be used for any cube just by changing a few factors....

 

An interesting theoretical question, and I don't know the answer.

 

I'm not sure that anything larger than a 3x3 cube can be physically built. The inner squares would not be able to move independently, would they?

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