# 4x4 Center Memo Idea



## PatrickJameson (Apr 14, 2009)

So in the past two days I've had three attempts at 4x4 bld. Two of which were a success. I do have to say that it has something to do with my center memo which I have not seen anyone do anything like this before. I will try to explain it the best I can but bear with me, it is a little hard to explain.

Ok, to start, we will label each center like so;
_____
|1|2|
|4|8|

The best way that I can explain this is with an example solve so here is a scramble: u L' R2 d r2 B f' L F' f2 d D' l' f' D' r' R D' F2 R' D2 r' d2 R' f2 F r2 L2 U B R' B b' R' l2 B' r d2 L' b2

I'll add a y2 since that seems to be the easiest. Note: I solve with White on top and Green in front.

So let's look at the U face. It has 3 pieces solved in the 1 2 and 4 position.
the first part of the memo would then be 1+2+4=7. What this number will do is tell us where the solved pieces are located. Do this for all of the sides going in the order of U F R B L D. You should have the memo sequence of 7 5 3 1 1 2.

Now for the actual memo. I always start with the U face as my buffer. I look at the first unsolved piece in the U face going in order of the 1 2 4 8 pieces. I see that the 8 piece is unsolved and has to go the the orange face which is L. L has a piece solved in the 1 position so we go to the 2 position. That is a yellow piece so it has to go to the D face. The D face has a piece solved in the 2 position so we look at the 1 position which is an orange piece so it has to go the the L face. Now, we already used the unsolved piece in 2 so we move on to position 4.

Got it so far? 

Now, since we memoed where all the pieces are in the 7 5 3 1 1 2 sequence, we only need to memo the side the the piece is on. So to represent the visual memo that I would use, it would be U(buffer so not really needed), LDL, so far. If we continue this until all the pieces are accounted for it should be something like this; ULDLFB[end of cycle]FDLBRDF[end of cycle]RBR.

Ok, well there's bound to be something I missed so, tell me what you think .


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## fanwuq (Apr 14, 2009)

That's really cool. When you solve centers, would you add the numbers to the original number as you go along, or is it just obvious that you have solved that piece?

Edit:
I'm not that great at visual memo, so I probably won't be able to keep a lot of information in my head this way. What is the usual number of faces (center pieces to solve) you have to memorize? 18?


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## Mike Hughey (Apr 14, 2009)

That's very clever! I think I would have a hard time using this because it's not easy to pack the sides into my memory scheme, but I can see how it would be fast to memorize, other than that. As for execution, I would think it would tend to slow you down a little because you have to keep track of which pieces you've solved so far. I would think this would be the biggest drawback to it. But if you're doing pure visual memory, maybe it's not so difficult.

So I doubt I'll ever be using it, but it's still a really nice idea, and I'm glad it works for you!


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## PatrickJameson (Apr 14, 2009)

fanwuq said:


> That's really cool. When you solve centers, would you add the numbers to the original number as you go along, or is it just obvious that you have solved that piece?


I just remember which pieces I've done as I go along.



fanwuq said:


> What is the usual number of faces (center pieces to solve) you have to memorize? 18?


Depends on the number of centers solved but yeah, around 18.



Mike Hughey said:


> That's very clever! I think I would have a hard time using this because it's not easy to pack the sides into my memory scheme, but I can see how it would be fast to memorize, other than that. As for execution, I would think it would tend to slow you down a little because you have to keep track of which pieces you've solved so far. I would think this would be the biggest drawback to it. But if you're doing pure visual memory, maybe it's not so difficult.
> 
> So I doubt I'll ever be using it, but it's still a really nice idea, and I'm glad it works for you!


I do use pure visual so it is not very difficult at all for me to keep track. Most of the time that I spend is figuring out how to do the commutator


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## trying-to-speedcube... (Apr 14, 2009)

Wow... Great idea!!

This can of course be done for bigger cubes too, and visual memo for which side is really easy 

Patrick, if you spend a lot of time figuring out the commutator, you should try U2. It's very easy to do without pauses.


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## PatrickJameson (Apr 14, 2009)

trying-to-speedcube... said:


> Patrick, if you spend a lot of time figuring out the commutator, you should try U2. It's very easy to do without pauses.


Nah, I will just keep practicing commutators. I will get better over time.


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## AvGalen (Apr 14, 2009)

Mike Hughey said:


> That's very clever! I think I would have a hard time using this because it's not easy to pack the sides into my memory scheme, but I can see how it would be fast to memorize, other than that. As for execution, I would think it would tend to slow you down a little because you have to keep track of which pieces you've solved so far. I would think this would be the biggest drawback to it. But if you're doing pure visual memory, maybe it's not so difficult.
> 
> So I doubt I'll ever be using it, but it's still a really nice idea, and I'm glad it works for you!


Uhm Mike, isn't this like the center-version of your corner-orientation Hex-system?


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## peterbat (Apr 14, 2009)

PatrickJameson said:


> Ok, to start, we will label each center like so;
> _____
> |1|2|
> |4|8|



Nice! This seems like it could get really fast with practice.


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## fanwuq (Apr 14, 2009)

peterbat said:


> PatrickJameson said:
> 
> 
> > Ok, to start, we will label each center like so;
> ...



The problem with that is that you won't know what happened to the center at 0.


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## PatrickJameson (Apr 14, 2009)

peterbat said:


> PatrickJameson said:
> 
> 
> > Ok, to start, we will label each center like so;
> ...


That would not work. For example, if 0 1 and 2 are solved, it would have the same memo as if 1 and 2 are solved.


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## peterbat (Apr 14, 2009)

PatrickJameson said:


> peterbat said:
> 
> 
> > PatrickJameson said:
> ...



I know  I tried to edit that out before someone saw it, but I was too late


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## Mike Hughey (Apr 14, 2009)

AvGalen said:


> Mike Hughey said:
> 
> 
> > That's very clever!...
> ...


Yes, it is. Maybe that's why I thought it was so clever?


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## flee135 (Apr 14, 2009)

I think this is quite interesting. I currently have some problem with memo because I occasionally confuse my edges memo with centers since I use letters. I may try this out to see if I'm able to do this, although I was never good with visual memo for anything besides corners... I tend to forget it very quickly.


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## rahulkadukar (Apr 20, 2009)

Well I am new at 4x4x4 BLD and will try this because once you are into it I find it difficult to change


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