# 3x3x3 and 4x4x4 lettering scheme



## macky (Dec 29, 2007)

Hi everyone,

I've been reading up on all the recent developments in blindfold cubing, and I've decided that I'll follow Chris Hardwick's advice and start using letter pairs for 4x4x4. I also want to at least try the same for the 3x3x3 edges. I'm trying out M2 a bit right now, and visual memory takes me too long for cycles of stickers.

Has anyone tried keeping the lettering consistent between 4x4x4 and 3x3x3 edges? We need 24 letters for each (each 3x3x3 edge has two letters, one for each sticker). If we label, for example, UR and URf as A and RU and RUf as B, we have the same letter for the same algorithm in both M2 and r2 methods for the L/R edges (I don't know if I'll end up using r2 and free-cycling for 4x4x4 edges). Maybe then it simplifies things to label the L/R edges first and then the l/r/M edges, where the algorithms may differ between the two methods.

I'm a bit hesitant to do this because I might want to use the lettering for pure 4-step 3-cycle on 3x3x3 as well. Since I need only half the letters, again in an effort to be consistent, I would use the letters A, C, E, G, etc, which seems rather arbitrary.

If I only need 12 letters, would it be better to use the commonly used ones? Just common consonants? Wouldn't I then be a bit confused between 3x3x3 and 4x4x4 letterings?

I'm hesitant to start practicing with a fixed lettering scheme until I'm convinced that it's a good one.

Thanks,
-macky


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## Lucas Garron (Dec 29, 2007)

I'm going to use a consistent lettering scheme for freestyle and 4x4x4...

UF-FU..[L]..*..[R] around U
FL-LF..around E
FD-DF..[L]....[R] around D

A, B, C, D...

I'll post it with my comm page...*


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## joey (Dec 29, 2007)

Macky: I don't see why only using every other letter for pure 4-step is bad? Having a 24 letter scheme, allows both 4-step and 2-step methods.

In my letters (which I have named for multi-bld mostly, but still havn't really used ), I use A-P, R S T U V Z. Missing out Q and X.


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## macky (Dec 29, 2007)

joey:


> Macky: I don't see why only using every other letter for pure 4-step is bad? Having a 24 letter scheme, allows both 4-step and 2-step methods.



I know that any 3x3 lettering scheme will work fine once you know the words for each letter pair, but I guess I want one that's easy to start using. May I just won't bother with a lettering scheme for 4-step 3-cycle.

I've done a bit more thinking. Here's the lettering scheme I might use:

R layer
(letter, 3x3, 4x4)
A UR URf
B RU URb
C BR BRu
D RB BRd
E DR DRb
F RD RDf
G FR FRd
H RF FRu

L layer

I UL ULb
J LU ULf
K FL FLu
L LF FLd
M DL DLf
N LD DLb
O BL BLd
P LB BLu

M/r/r slice

Q DF (buffer) DFr(buffer)
R FD (buffer) DFl
S UB UBr
T BU UBl
U UF UFr
V FU UFl
W DB DBr
X BD DBl

A few points:
- This gives you the same algorithm for both M2 and r2 for A through T
- For 3x3, you won't need to worry about letter pairs with the rare letter Q (good for people coming up with words on the spot).
- It's easy to learn which letters need to be switched when they are the second in a pair: U and W (double U); V and X. The bad targets are the "VeXing" targets.
- I lettered the R and L slices in different directions to keep things nice for 4x4. I don't think it's a problem since, in the end, we want to link each letter, not position, to moves.

I'm looking for the easiest lettering scheme that can be used for both 3x3 and 4x4. I also don't think I'll have the time to convert to another scheme after I get used to one. It's like trying to avoid QWERTY from the beginning, except that here any lettering scheme would work great after enough practice.

Any thoughts?

-macky


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## Lotsofsloths (Dec 29, 2007)

although I cannot blindsolve(I am learning though), I had an idea for edges of the 3x3..

you start out with the BU edge and get the first letter of the alphabet, A, and thats the UB sticker then if it is a vowel the other sticker of that edge must be a consonant, but it must be in order so heres what it would look like, this way you could sound it out, therefore not forgetting it..

The UB edge is the AB edge.
The BU edge is the BA edge
UB-A
BU-B

UR-E
RU-C

UF-I
FU-D

UL-O
LU-F
etc....



For example, if my part of my cycle was UB to FU, it would be, in this system;
Abdi, and you remember it as a word..


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## macky (Dec 29, 2007)

If we switch the assignment of U/V and W/X in the lettering scheme above, there's another benefit: if you memorize 4x4 edges, starting at the D sticker of the buffer (FDr), as a cycle of stickers, you get the correct letter each time by pretending that this is a 3x3. (If you use FD as the buffer for 3x3, you would start at the F sticker.)


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## Mike Hughey (Dec 29, 2007)

For 3x3x3 M2 and/or freestyle, I've been using a lettering scheme that matches my 5x5x5 centers. The corners use my letters for the x-centers from the 5x5x5, and the edges use my letters for the +-centers from the 5x5x5. Since it's the same as what I use all the time for centers, it's really quite natural for me to use them. Since I think about the visual orientation of them when I set them up for M2, it really doesn't hurt for them to be different from my lettering scheme for the 4x4x4 edges. It works for me, anyway.

Oh boy, now even Macky is getting into 4x4x4 BLD. Now it's going to really get crazy!  Good to see you on here again, Macky!


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## cmhardw (Dec 29, 2007)

Hi Macky,

that's great that you're getting back into 4x4 BLD! Also as to your lettering scheme, I've already made 3 major changes to my scheme after finding some weaknesses in it after lots of practice.

The things I changed I list below, as well as why I did it.

1) I lettered my D face such as to follow my lettering pattern (top to bottom and left to right) as if I am looking through the cube, and not directly at the D face. This is because, when blindfolded, I "see" the cube this way in my head.

2) I changed the lettering of all the 3x3x3 pieces to match my lettering of the 5x5x5 centers. This made it so much easier to picture the 3x3x3 pieces since I was used to my center scheme from 4x4 and 5x5 BLD.

3) I changed my lettering of the B face to follow my top to bottom left to right scheme as if I am seeing it through the cube, and not as if I am looking directly at the B face. Again this is because when I am blindfolded I "see" the cube this way in my mind.

Changes 1 and 3 affected the lettering of the d layer and b layer edges as well for the bigger cubes. Changes 1 and 2 I made a long time ago, but change 3 is very recent and I'm still getting used to it. I hope my reasons for changing my scheme, which I agree is hard, are enough information to help you in choosing your own scheme.

Also don't be surprised if even with a scheme you initially feel is a good lettering scheme if you find a flaw that slows you down. Don't be afraid to change your scheme later on is all I am saying. Yes it's painful, but my current lettering scheme makes so much more sense to me than the first one I started with without these 3 changes.

My lettering scheme is very strange from the standard sense of viewing each face as if you are looking directly at it (our turn notation does this). But in terms of how I "see" the cube in my mind's eye when I am blindfolded, where I can see though the cube so to speak, it makes perfect sense to me.

Hope this helps, and good luck with your BLD pursuits!
Chris

P.S. The Q words are not as hard as you might think. If you want some ideas take a look at my image letter pairs and/or my word letter pairs. http://www.speedcubing.com/chris/memorizing.html


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## macky (Dec 30, 2007)

Thanks, Mike and Chris. When the time comes for 5x5, I'll be sure to use my 3x3 lettering.

Chris:
Are 1 and 3 just for the centers, or for the edges as well? Also, as applied to the centers, it sounds like you're assigning consecutive letters to facelets on the same side (say, for 4x4 centers, (A B C D ...) = (Ubl Ubr Ufl Ufr ...)). For the 4x4, my first instinct was to assign consecutive letters to facelets on the same corner and and then applying that to 4x4 centers, so say (A B C ...) = (Ufr Ruf Fur ...). Have you tried this type of lettering?

I've been following your one-syllable thread. It looks like next year is going to be an exciting time for blindfold cubing!

-macky


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## cmhardw (Dec 30, 2007)

Hi Macky,



> it sounds like you're assigning consecutive letters to facelets on the same side (say, for 4x4 centers, (A B C D ...) = (Ubl Ubr Ufl Ufr ...)). For the 4x4, my first instinct was to assign consecutive letters to facelets on the same corner and and then applying that to 4x4 centers, so say (A B C ...) = (Ufr Ruf Fur ...). Have you tried this type of lettering?



Yes I did try the type of lettering you are mentioning where I assign consecutive letters onto the same corner. I think it is a good lettering scheme, and with practice you learn to tell quickly which 3 letters are on a given corner. This is actually the 3x3x3 lettering I switched away from though, because I already had adjusted to my 4x4x4 center lettering scheme (consecutive letters on the same face) and I found the difference between the two very confusing. If you start with this scheme right off the bat, and later adapt it to your 4x4x4 and 5x5x5 x-centers, then I think it should be a very fast method/scheme to get used to.



> Are 1 and 3 just for the centers, or for the edges as well?



1 and 3 both applied to my x-center, +-centers, and corresponding inner layer slices as far as the big cubes were concerned. For the 3x3x3 they applied to both corners and edges (thus they re-order everything on those faces on a 5x5x5).

I'm pretty well used to change number 3 (relettering my B face) and I can already tell it will be faster, but I still occasionally mis-letter a sticker during memorization and have to quickly correct it.



> I've been following your one-syllable thread. It looks like next year is going to be an exciting time for blindfold cubing!



To be clear, and to be fair, I still DNF a lot as this method is quite new to me. However when I get a solve it tends to be faster than what I used to do with images only, or with purely visual. My fastest solves now are sub-1:30 and my slowest tend to be around 2:45. I think I am averaging sub-1:50 if you count only my successful solves, but I may end up slowing down a bit in order to ensure better accuracy than I am currently getting. Still I am hoping the DNFs are at least in part due to the method being very new and very different to what I am used to. I'm hoping with practice I can achieve better accuracy and consistently fast solves. Based on what I've seen so far my semi-long term goals are to achieve sub-30 memorization for the entire cube on a very fast solve, and I hope to average sub-40 memorization using this hybrid images for edges and sounds for corners method.

Chris


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## macky (Jan 1, 2008)

Great, thanks so much, Chris. I'm not sure if I'm going to really practice big cube blindfold solving, but I want to do at least one successful 4x4 bld in competition. I already have that one DNF from WC03 that didn't get recorded!

-macky


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