# 2 cycle vs. 3 cycle



## MikeD (Jan 18, 2007)

I just learned what everyone is calling 2 cycle last week and timed one solve and got 8:46. Everyone is telling me to just learn 3 cycle but I dont even understand what that means. This might be a dumb question but what is the difference? How do I start to learn 3 cycle? Thanks for any help.


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## tim (Jan 18, 2007)

hi,

in the 3-cycle-method you don't swap 2 pieces, but cycle 3 pieces. a good guide through the 3-cycle-method can be found on Macky's page: 3-cycle guide

advantages and disadvantages of the two methods (copied from cubefreak.net):
*Cycles*
Pro: removes thinking, easy to visualize
Con: hard setup moves

*Piece-by-piece*
Pro: no setup, very versatile, faster memorization
Con: rememorizing after each alg

btw. 8:45 after one week of bld-cubing sounds amazing . i needed at least half an hour .


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## pjk (Jan 18, 2007)

3 cycle IMO seems to be much quicker. Two cycle however can obviously be very quick, as Pochmann has shown. However, I think the limits of each will end up with 3 cycle in the lead. 3 cycle is where you cycle 3 pieces at a time, rather than swapping 1 piece with another (2 cycle).


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## MikeD (Jan 19, 2007)

Thanks for the help. I'll looks into 3. I have a pretty good understanding of 2, so I'd like to see what 3 is like. Especially if it is faster!! haha. Later.


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## dbeyer (Jan 25, 2007)

Yes, 3-cycles are definitely faster ... but is the orientation step associated w/ the method a counter balance? That is why I dislike 3-cycles because of the almost mandantory orientation step. Actually. 2-cycles has it con too. The starting of new cycles requires an "unproductive algorithm " to start the new cycle.

I can sub 3 w/ my 2-cycle method. I'm adding a few more changes, and I can occassionally 2:15 it ... however I normally make stupid mistakes giving me a DNF. Like disorienting one of the corners or edges. I finally did a 2:15 today w/ my 2-cycle method and I had to permute all of the pieces and orient 2 edges. Very nice shapes, easy memo. 60s memo, 75s execution.


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## MikeD (Jan 25, 2007)

Wow, dbeyer, I thought you did that with 3 cycle. You were only using 2? Do you normally use 2 or 3??


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## dbeyer (Jan 26, 2007)

Mike, I don't use 3 cycles. I really want to. I'm starting to see them however still not using them.

I use 2-cycles for corners and edges. I'm thinking about different things about how I can use Orientation and 3-cycles in my method so I've a large bags of tricks.

I was told that's the key to a good mathematician. Why can't it be likewise for a blindfold cubist?!

Every trick helps. If you use it once. It pays off


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## Joël (Feb 7, 2007)

> _Originally posted by cin_@Jan 18 2007, 08:06 PM
> * Cycles
> Pro: removes thinking, easy to visualize
> Con: hard setup moves
> ...


 Allright, quoting Macky here is really out of context. 

Macky's talking about piece-by-piece approach, as described in Richard Carr's BLD document, not about methods that use 2-cycles like Stefan's method.


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