# The Speedcubing Hobby



## ducttapecuber (Sep 28, 2012)

Hve you ever realized what our hobby is? We solve a child's toy that is believed to be impossible. We have created dozens of methods to solve a plastic toy, that most people can't figure out how to do a side. We have evolved this strange hobby into competitions (and awesomeness) We have a hobby that is uncommon even rare. Do you ever during a solve stop and think what the h*** am I doing. I can solve this puzzle "that only geniuses can solve." It blew my mind how fast I could do this puzzle. We have this awesome hobby that has been catagorized as impossible. We have learned a new language within or hobby. Such as whenever you here the word prime or permutation you automatically think rubik's cube. This is just crazy if you actually stop and think.
We are reminded how awesome our hobby is everytime we pull out a cube in public. Just stop and realize how how cool this hobby is every once in awhile.


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## Hunter (Sep 28, 2012)

The 7x7 for me is not a 'challenge' at all, and I am working on a 19x19 on Gabbasoft which is not 'hard' and people are blown away at the sight of a 3x3. Its interesting to think about.


It's always funny to look at some comments for solve videos. My favorite being one of Yu N. doing it in 6.57 and here are some comment quotes:

"YOU SCRAMBLED IT THERE IS A RULE WHICH STATED YOUR NOT ALLOWED TO SCRAMBLE IT! YOU CHEAT"

"speeded up video, and after effected the time"

"reverse scramble..."

"Thats how u no your a nerd..u can day it in 6 seconds,im to stupid to do it in a week." -You do sound stupid.

"It's impossible to solve a Rubik's cube under 40-50 seconds if I give it a good scramble." - My favorite.

"FAKE"

"probably just a bunch of over and up twists that make it look scrambled but really its not"

"All u have to do Is memorize the order u messed up the cube in then just solve it and speed up the vid a little"

"lol its fake look how fast his hands move"

And finally, ""No real skill involved. ""


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## sneaklyfox (Sep 28, 2012)

It's true. People in public still stare in amazement. Not too long ago, I was at the doctor's office. Wait times are forever so I pulled out my cube. A woman asked me if I had ever solved "one of those things". I could have said, "Oh yes, thousands of times!" but instead just finished the solve I was doing a few seconds later which totally blew her away ("It's magic!") Even though there are all these tutorials on youtube, still there are so many people out there who think it's impossible. But everybody still knows what it is. That's pretty cool. I love speedcubing!


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## cubingawsumness (Sep 28, 2012)

I don't really get why it's so famous. Is it because of the cube-craze in the 80's? It seems like it's a classic toy that every kid has seen and tried, though few have actually solved it. Very interesting, and very cool. Another reason to love it.

Whenever people ask me how I do it, I say magic. Whenever people ask me if I can teach them, I say, "Did you know that there's this wonderful thing called the internet?"

I think that speedcubing might not be as fun for me if everyone in the world could do it. I sound so selfish...


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## airwind336 (Sep 28, 2012)

Don't you get kind of angry when
-people are scrambling and tell you not to look
-people pop it and say "I broke it!" 
-they say "RUBIKS cube"
-they say " I can't even do that in a year"
-people look at other cubes beside 3x3 (like a 2x2 or megaminx) and freak out
-people look at a 2x2 and think they can do it
-people say they once solved it by accident
.......................SMH!


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## IamWEB (Sep 28, 2012)

ducttapecuber said:


> Do you ever during a solve stop and think what the h*** am I doing_?_


_fixed_

Well, no. I don't stop during my solves to ponder such things.


What a great hobby we have, though!


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## Ranzha (Sep 28, 2012)

airwind336 said:


> Don't you get kind of angry when
> -people are scrambling and tell you not to look
> -people pop it and say "I broke it!"
> -they say "RUBIKS cube"
> ...



There's a thread for that.
http://www.speedsolving.com/forum/showthread.php?13808-Non-Cubers-say-the-darndest-things!


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## JonnyWhoopes (Sep 28, 2012)

airwind336 said:


> -they say "RUBIKS cube"



I don't get this one, what's wrong with it? Do you get mad every time somebody calls a facial tissue a Kleenex? Or somebody calls a lift an Elevator?


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## JasonK (Sep 28, 2012)

Thanks for this thread. It's easy to forget how strange and unique our hobby is sometimes


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## sneaklyfox (Sep 28, 2012)

airwind336 said:


> Don't you get kind of angry when
> -people are scrambling and tell you not to look
> -people pop it and say "I broke it!"
> -they say "RUBIKS cube"
> ...



The only thing here that makes me angry is if they pop my cube, period. And actually, I HAVE solved it by accident once, before I learned how to do it. I really did.


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## Ickathu (Sep 28, 2012)

sneaklyfox said:


> The only thing here that makes me angry is if they pop my cube, period. And actually, I HAVE solved it by accident once, before I learned how to do it. I really did.



As in random turning or did you try to solve it?

Also, if you look at probability, that means that nobody else has. Ever. Right? Only 1 in 43 Quintillion should have solved it by chance, and there are, what? 7 billion people in the world?


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## sneaklyfox (Sep 28, 2012)

Pretty much random turning, yes. I didn't know how to solve it all yet at the time. I would just turn it randomly and then one day I was turning it randomly in my hands and then was shocked when I found that it was suddenly solved. I don't know... has nobody ever done that before because I'm not joking and I'm quite sure it really happened because I went immediately to show my dad what had happened and he was shocked too.

Edit: And it wouldn't be 1 in whatever quintillion for probability. I forget how many states there are for the cube, but assuming that turning it randomly always puts it in a different state each time you turn it and you turn it thousands of times, it cuts it down a bit.


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## JasonK (Sep 28, 2012)

sneaklyfox said:


> Edit: And it wouldn't be 1 in whatever quintillion for probability. I forget how many states there are for the cube, but assuming that turning it randomly always puts it in a different state each time you turn it and you turn it thousands of times, it cuts it down a bit.



The change in probability is negligible - even if you go through 10 thousand states, the chance that one of them is the solved state is 1 in about 23 quadrillion. I'm not saying you're wrong, just that it'll be difficult to convince anyone that you really solved it through random turning


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## sneaklyfox (Sep 28, 2012)

Well, true. It's negligible, but I was just saying that it's not 1 in 43 quintillion. So I can't convince anyone, but I know it happened and of course my dad didn't need any convincing. There was a scrambled cube and then there was a solved cube. No sticker peeling, taking apart puzzle... you'll just have to believe me or call me a liar.


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## Ickathu (Sep 28, 2012)

I believe you. I tend to find people here more believable than random strangers on the streets though, especially once 90% of them are telling me that they've solved it luckily before, or got 5 sides solved or...

in short (caution, language):


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## Mike Hughey (Sep 28, 2012)

sneaklyfox said:


> Well, true. It's negligible, but I was just saying that it's not 1 in 43 quintillion. So I can't convince anyone, but I know it happened and of course my dad didn't need any convincing. There was a scrambled cube and then there was a solved cube. No sticker peeling, taking apart puzzle... you'll just have to believe me or call me a liar.



I believe the story, but I'm curious about the details. What cube did this happen on? Was it one that you had played with before that had been scrambled and played with for a long time, or was it a cube that you happened to pick up somewhere, such that you don't know the history of how it was scrambled?

It's possible you picked up a cube that had been scrambled with a certain pattern, and you duplicated that pattern in reverse to randomly solve it. Or perhaps it was only scrambled by 8 or 10 turns, and it is certainly not that outrageous for someone (even someone who hasn't ever picked up a cube before) to "luck into" a solution, especially since some of it would be intuitive - if you got within 3 or 4 moves, it's likely that then you could actually see the solution.

I have to admit I think it's more likely that your solution was something like this rather than pure random solving; pure random solving is just too unlikely. For instance, if it was truly random, consider how much more likely it would be that you would almost solve it with 2 corners twisted or 2 edges flipped, as opposed to completely solving it. The likelihood of something like that would be much greater than the likelihood of solving it, yet you never hear stories of people doing that by chance. The fact that it was completely solved really makes it likely that there was something that made it particularly easy for you to solve. (Probably something you weren't aware of.)


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## sneaklyfox (Sep 28, 2012)

Am I really the only person this has happened to? We had a Rubik's cube at home. I liked to play with it even though I didn't know how to solve it. It was in a scrambled state. Every few days or once in awhile when I felt like it I would pick it up and turn it randomly or sometimes I could "get a side" when I tried... one side is all the same colour although the pieces were actually in the incorrect permutation. And then I would go back to random turning. I was probably about 5 years old at the time. I had been playing with the same cube a long time and it had not been solved. On the day that I randomly "solved" the cube, I don't think I was trying to do anything (although it's possible I was trying to match things up a bit). And maybe on the last few turns, I might have seen the solution subconsciously. Honestly, I don't think I was trying. But there was a moment when it just came together and I suddenly realized it was solved as I was turning it in my hands. I don't know how it happened. Of course, having two corners twisted or two edges flipped is more likely, but as it's not in a solved state, one would keep turning it and probably forget that it was "close".


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## nqwe (Sep 28, 2012)

I would say it isn't that unlikely as it is said.

You have ~43e18 combinations.
if you "see" the solution without 4 moves (43.239 combinations) you only have to get one combination out of ~1e15 to solve it.
than take 1e3 people doing 1e3 moves from a random scramble -> 1 : 1,000,000,000, which is like 0.0000001 %; not that unlikely ^^


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## BillyRain (Sep 29, 2012)

airwind336 said:


> Don't you get kind of angry when
> -people are scrambling and tell you not to look
> -people pop it and say "I broke it!"
> -they say "RUBIKS cube"
> ...



BEST post in the entire thread  All so true!!!!!


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## CarlBrannen (Sep 29, 2012)

If it was a non-cuber saying that they'd solved it by accident I would simply reject it as too unlikely to happen. With SneakyFox it's unbelievable but stuff does happen. I would chalk it up to the unconscious mind solving the cube.


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## Hunter (Sep 29, 2012)

Going through half of the positions of a 3x3 at one turn per second would take about 2 quadrillion hours. So randomly moving it so a solved state is pretty low, however this does happen: 
(3:00 in)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q92jJIhlHA


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## tx789 (Sep 29, 2012)

Hunter said:


> Going through half of the positions of a 3x3 at one turn per second would take about 2 quadrillion hours. So randomly moving it so a solved state is pretty low, however this does happen:
> (3:00 in)



If you scramble a cube with wr(white on top green on front) and another br(blue on top red on front) then they both have the same solutions. 


Still it a lot 

Do you think every single combination has existed on a real 3x3.

There are 18,000 people on this forum and a lot would of solved a cube thousands of times that millions of solves


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## Hunter (Sep 29, 2012)

tx789 said:


> Do you think every single combination has existed on a real 3x3.



That's very interesting.


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## hcfong (Sep 29, 2012)

tx789 said:


> Do you think every single combination has existed on a real 3x3.



Not even near. I just did some rough calculations. Please note that the numbers I use may be grossly exaggerated and are really made up. anyway, let's go:

We know that a 3x3 cube has 43 quintillion (43 * 10e18) possible permutations that can be reached from a solved cube, 
We also know that the cube has been around since 1974, so 38 years.
According to the Rubik's website, over 300 million Rubik's cubes have been sold. With the sales of knock off cubes and speedcubes, I raised this number to 500 million.

Now let's assume that all these 500 million cubes have been around since the day the Rubik's cube first appeared on the market and since that time each of them has been turned non-stop with a rate of 5 tps. We also assume that each turn, results in a unique permutation of the cube, that has never appeared on any cube before and until all permutions have appeared. 

With these assumptions in mind, let's do some basic maths. 

38 years = 1,119,232,000 seconds (including leap days)

With 500 million cubes being turned non stop at 5 tps, this would give us 2.9 * 10e18. We haven't even reached 10% of the total number of permutations.

Of course, I am aware the numbers I use are grossly overestimated and the assumptions I make are totally impossible. But it shows that we haven't even begun to scratch the surface when it comes to the total number of possible permutations.


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## sneaklyfox (Sep 29, 2012)

CarlBrannen said:


> If it was a non-cuber saying that they'd solved it by accident I would simply reject it as too unlikely to happen. With SneakyFox it's unbelievable but stuff does happen. I would chalk it up to the unconscious mind solving the cube.



I must have a genius subconscious!


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## nqwe (Sep 29, 2012)

hcfong said:


> Not even near. I just did some rough calculations. Please note that the numbers I use may be grossly exaggerated and are really made up. anyway, let's go:
> 
> We know that a 3x3 cube has 43 quintillion (43 * 10e18) possible permutations that can be reached from a solved cube,
> We also know that the cube has been around since 1974, so 38 years.
> ...



And considering, that people are dumb enough not to regognize that they are a few moves away from solution ^^
Although a nice thought experiment.

btw, (a)e(b) means already a*10^b


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## ducttapecuber (Sep 29, 2012)

hcfong said:


> Not even near. I just did some rough calculations. Please note that the numbers I use may be grossly exaggerated and are really made up. anyway, let's go:
> 
> We know that a 3x3 cube has 43 quintillion (43 * 10e18) possible permutations that can be reached from a solved cube,
> We also know that the cube has been around since 1974, so 38 years.
> ...



it's interesting to think about (even though your calculations are 100% correct) what if is their is that one scrambled state that has an easy cross, extremley easy f2l and a LL skip that only takes Faz a little over 3 or 4 seconds....


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## BigGreen (Sep 29, 2012)

Speedcubin?


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## applemobile (Sep 29, 2012)

OP sounds like he is on MDMA


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## ducttapecuber (Sep 29, 2012)

BigGreen said:


> Speedcubin?



Really you brought up that thread again.... i still laugh at it though


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## Edward (Sep 29, 2012)

BigGreen said:


> Speedcubin?



<3 u green 

Anything can sound pretty phenomenal when you break it down like that. 
The world is a pretty cool place. Humans are a pretty cool guy.


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## tx789 (Sep 30, 2012)

quintillion seems smaller than it is it's a million million million or million trillion and that's only 1/43 of the total number


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## WBCube (Oct 1, 2012)

It's getting awfully cube theory in here, I like it though


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## Ickathu (Oct 1, 2012)

Puzzle/Number/Group/Cube theory <3


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## NEONCUBES (Oct 16, 2012)

IamWEB said:


> _fixed_
> 
> Well, no. I don't stop during my solves to ponder such things.
> 
> ...


I only stop when I can't find my next f2l pair. I agree we do have a great hobby!


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## applemobile (Oct 16, 2012)

Thing that irritates me is the sheer amount of women that it attracts. Some days I fear leaving the house for fear of getting mobbed by 10/10 nubile femails.


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## NEONCUBES (Oct 16, 2012)

applemobile said:


> Thing that irritates me is the sheer amount of women that it attracts. Some days I fear leaving the house for fear of getting mobbed by 10/10 nubile femails.



If only.


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## 5BLD (Oct 16, 2012)

applemobile said:


> Thing that irritates me is the sheer amount of women that it attracts. Some days I fear leaving the house for fear of getting mobbed by 10/10 nubile femails.



Don't be too kind to yerself, I'm not sure if someone who can't spell female would have that particular problem


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## Tyjet66 (Oct 16, 2012)

applemobile said:


> Thing that irritates me is the sheer amount of women that it attracts. Some days I fear leaving the house for fear of getting mobbed by 10/10 nubile femails.



Yea, my soon to be fiance only took interest in me after seeing me solve during class.


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## Chrisandstuff (Oct 16, 2012)

Well I did once accidentally solve a cube once but it wasnt fully scrambled either I had one and I did the checkerboard pattern to it and messed up the pattern then kinda tried to undo what I did but eventually It got back to solved although it wasnt fully scrambled IMO


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## cuber08 (Jan 6, 2013)

we have the greatest and most unique hobby in the world!!! will speedsolve to the grave!!


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