# What Percent of the World Can Solve A 7x7



## tfkscores (Jul 8, 2009)

I just did my first 7x7 solve without any help which was pretty cool and was wondering does anyone know what percent of the world can solve a 7x7. I tried googling it but i found out that for the 3x3 its 16% especially after the movie pursuit of happyness the percentage went strait up. Same thing for other cubes over 3x3.


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## qqwref (Jul 8, 2009)

0%, rounded down to the nearest percent.

Seriously, it's pretty small... I'd be very surprised if more than 100,000 people could solve a 7x7 on their own (and even that is about 0.0015%).

Where'd you get the 16% figure?


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## tfkscores (Jul 8, 2009)

idk i just googled it and it said it was very small but then increased after pursuit of happiness. leme check again.


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## tfkscores (Jul 8, 2009)

13.3% my bad


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## qqwref (Jul 8, 2009)

I'd still like to see where you got the number. 10% of the world's population is about 670 million people and that seems like a LOT to me.


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## tfkscores (Jul 8, 2009)

yea idk i got one off of one yahoo answers question and one wikipedia thing. you try googling it see what you come up with.


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## Kian (Jul 8, 2009)

13.2% is absurd.


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## fanwuq (Jul 8, 2009)

Maybe 13.3% of the people who own Rubik's cubes?


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## miniGOINGS (Jul 8, 2009)

Are you sure that's not .133 percent?


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## tfkscores (Jul 8, 2009)

yea go look it up dude


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## Mike Hughey (Jul 8, 2009)

Okay, so I googled, and these are pretty funny. Here's the 13.3%:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070527152752AAAU6hV

And here's someone who says it's 28% in the US:
http://www.chacha.com/question/what-percent-of-the-us-can-solve-a-rubik's-cube

I guess that just goes to show you how you can totally trust the Internet for quality information, huh?

I guess it must be true that you have to be stupid to be able to solve the cube. This article says only 5% of Mensans can solve it:
http://www.technosourcehk.com/press-85.php

So I guess if you qualify for Mensa, you're much less likely to be able to solve the cube than the average person. 

(And in case you haven't figured it out yet, the truth is that nobody has a clue.)


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## miniGOINGS (Jul 8, 2009)

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_percent_of_people_can_solve_a_Rubik's_Cube
You're saying that if i get 15 people in a room, on average 2 of them will be able to solve a Rubik's Cube?


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## mcciff2112 (Jul 8, 2009)

miniGOINGS said:


> Sorry about the double post, but you're saying that if i get 15 people in a room, on average 2 of them will be able to solve a Rubik's Cube?



Depends on who is in the room 

But I would have to say no. It's not that common for someone to know how to solve it, that's why people are so amazed by those of us who can.


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## tfkscores (Jul 8, 2009)

yea that doesnt seem right


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## tfkscores (Jul 8, 2009)

haha yea at family reunions and stuff and all my friends are just like shocked when i pull out my 4x4 and solve it its so funny cause its so easy.


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## Ethan Rosen (Jul 8, 2009)

tfkscores said:


> yea that doesnt seem right



So don't claim it as a fact


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## miniGOINGS (Jul 8, 2009)

Like, in a school of 500 people, I am the only one who knows how to solve, other than those who I have taught (maybe 6 at the school). And in the entire staff only 1 teacher. 13.3% doesn't sound right.


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## Tim Reynolds (Jul 8, 2009)

@minigoings: Dude, fix your link. And you (and tfkscores) really didn't need to double post, you can edit your posts.
13.3% sounds absurdly high. That sounds like a number that someone just picked randomly once, and then everyone thought that they knew what they were talking about. Think about all the people you know. Now think of how many of them could solve a cube before you could. That's probably closer to the percentage of people who actually can solve a cube, before you messed up the statistic by teaching lots of people.

anyway, 13.3% probably isn't true. 74.4% of statistics are made up on the spot =)


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## miniGOINGS (Jul 8, 2009)

I think I've met only 1 person in my entire life, that knew how to solve the cube before I could.


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## tfkscores (Jul 8, 2009)

yea i know me to


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## miniGOINGS (Jul 8, 2009)

Haha, wow, I just found some guy say that he solved 5 of the colours of the Rubik's Cube but couldn't get the last one. XD


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## royzabeast (Jul 8, 2009)

I'm going to guesstimate about 1%. Somebody should do a survey.


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## miniGOINGS (Jul 8, 2009)

royzabeast said:


> I'm going to guesstimate about 1%. Somebody should do a survey.



That's the thing though, it would be incredible hard to do an accurate survey.


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## tanya33 (Jul 8, 2009)

those v cubes are expensive but I might get one... eventually... it just doesn't seem like it would be that much better than a 5x5


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## Tim Reynolds (Jul 8, 2009)

I would guess much less than 1%. Maybe on the order of 500,000 people can solve the cube.

Hey, I know, let's do a survey on speedsolving.com! That would be a representative sample of the world...


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## Paul Wagner (Jul 8, 2009)

At a competition, 40% (I'm guessing) 
know how to solve it. Also think about it... not even 5'000 people on 
this forum 100% of them can solve a rubik's cube I hope/think


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## rahulkadukar (Jul 8, 2009)

With reference to WCA database it is 1 in a million for 3x3x3.

For a 7x7x7 it is close to 1 in 10 million.


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## edd5190 (Jul 8, 2009)

Was this really worth making a thread for? I can imagine asking it by posting in a related thread, but not making a thread for it. The answer to your question is .000000001%

Also, this is in the wrong sub-forum.


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## Ethan Rosen (Jul 8, 2009)

To the OP:
Do you mean how many have solved a 7x7 or how many people could solve a 7x7 if they put effort into it. Anyone who has solved a 4x4 could solve a 7x7 with just a little work, but I'd be willing to bet that very few of the people who have solved a 4x4 have ever solved a 7x7.


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## tfkscores (Jul 8, 2009)

yea my question was just what percent of people could do a 7x7 cause i just did it and felt very proud lol. but yea finding someone who can solve the cube is very hard but the thing is its so easy just people dont have the patience for it. like me it took me what 4 hours to do the 7x7 without any help over the course of a few days which i know sucks but my only other experince to big cubes is a 4x4


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## Tim Reynolds (Jul 8, 2009)

edd5190 said:


> The answer to your question is .000000001%



That's less than a person =P


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## Ethan Rosen (Jul 8, 2009)

tfkscores said:


> yea my question was just what percent of people could do a 7x7 cause i just did it and felt very proud lol. but yea finding someone who can solve the cube is very hard but the thing is its so easy just people dont have the patience for it. like me it took me what 4 hours to do the 7x7 without any help over the course of a few days which i know sucks but my only other experince to big cubes is a 4x4



That didn't answer my question though.


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## imaghost (Jul 8, 2009)

Ethan Rosen said:


> To the OP:
> Do you mean how many have solved a 7x7 or how many people could solve a 7x7 if they put effort into it. Anyone who has solved a 4x4 could solve a 7x7 with just a little work, but I'd be willing to bet that very few of the people who have solved a 4x4 have ever solved a 7x7.



The corners of the inner 3x3 in the 5x5 can be difficult if you are not very good at cubing, or figuring stuff out. I had no problem, as I solved a 4x4 and used my own method, pairing and layer by layer(not including the parity errors) and I am good at problem solving. I have an algorithm that can solve any of those inner corner pieces of any cube, higher than 3x3 of course, and an algorithm that can solve a center piece of any cube without messing up anything else. (I think it is used for BLD)

First time solving 7x7 it took me maybe 20-30 minutes to get the algorithm for the centers I use.


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## Feanaro (Jul 8, 2009)

According to the number of people who have solved a 7x7 in competition, over the worlds population as of 2 minutes ago, the percent of people that can solve a 7x7 is 2.0941347283168713823574341149199e-6%


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## imaghost (Jul 8, 2009)

Feanaro said:


> According to the number of people who have solved a 7x7 in competition, over the worlds population as of 2 minutes ago, the percent of people that can solve a 7x7 is 2.0941347283168713823574341149199e-6%



(5 0's(e-6 is 6 decimal places, for 2.094...) plus 2 for the percent) .0000000209 * 6,769,683,185(world population)

145 people have solved a 7x7 in a competition.


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## PatrickJameson (Jul 8, 2009)

imaghost said:


> correct me if I am wrong here, but I think more than 15 people have solved a 7x7 in a competition.



http://www.worldcubeassociation.org...gionId=&years=&show=All+Persons&single=Single

Quite a lot more than 15.


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## imaghost (Jul 8, 2009)

oh ok I see my mistake, it is supposed to be .0000000209, and it is supposed to be 5 0's, not 6 because there is a decimal already in 2.0941347283168713823574341149199e-6% 
stoopid mistakes

so there are 145 people that can solve the 7x7 in this world officially(that have gone to tournaments)


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## Asheboy (Jul 8, 2009)

miniGOINGS said:


> http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_percent_of_people_can_solve_a_Rubik's_Cube
> You're saying that if i get 15 people in a room, on average 2 of them will be able to solve a Rubik's Cube?



So what you do, is you lock your self and 15 others in a room, bring a shot gun and 15 cubes. Then you give one to everyone and say they can't leave unless they solve it, or you will shoot them.  Saw VI?

I'm sure there is a lot more than in competition since most people are not that fast (like me!). So the answer would be rather hard to find the answer to. Maybe a poll would be more effective?


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## StachuK1992 (Jul 8, 2009)

Can anyone talk to Mr. Verdes?
It would be around the number sold, give or take.


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## amostay2004 (Jul 8, 2009)

Stachuk1992 said:


> Can anyone talk to Mr. Verdes?
> It would be around the number sold, give or take.



I'd say it's a lot more than that. Many people can solve a 7x7 but not afford one


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## StachuK1992 (Jul 8, 2009)

Yes, but some people buy multiple.


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## rahulkadukar (Jul 8, 2009)

amostay2004 said:


> Stachuk1992 said:
> 
> 
> > Can anyone talk to Mr. Verdes?
> ...



Right there I know 8 people who can solve 7x7x7 but dont have one.


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## StachuK1992 (Jul 8, 2009)

I'd say about 2-3x the number of 7x7's sold.
Sound fair?


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## amostay2004 (Jul 8, 2009)

Probably. But ultimately, there's no proper way of finding out anyway...heh.


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## tfkscores (Jul 8, 2009)

yea to bad. does anybody know if my number was right on 13.3% of people can solve it cause that doesnt sound right. Theres only 1 kid i met that could do it but he did it in like 20 minutes and needed the list of algorithms and never memorized them so that doesnt really count.


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## StachuK1992 (Jul 8, 2009)

13.3% is wrong, unless there's a secret branch of cubing gnome-people that have been hiding out.


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## miniGOINGS (Jul 8, 2009)

Stachuk1992 said:


> 13.3% is wrong, unless there's a secret branch of cubing gnome-people that have been hiding out.



[cubinggnome]eh eh....say allo to my ITTLE FRIEND!!![/cubinggnome]



Asheboy said:


> So what you do, is you lock your self and 15 others in a room, bring a shot gun and 15 cubes. Then you give one to everyone and say they can't leave unless they solve it, or you will shoot them.  Saw VI?



Thats exactly what I was thinking...


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## AvGalen (Jul 8, 2009)

amostay2004 said:


> Stachuk1992 said:
> 
> 
> > Can anyone talk to Mr. Verdes?
> ...


Many people can afford one (and have done so) but not solve it.

But all of this is just nitpicking (fun though).
"Everyone" could learn how to solve a 3x3x3
"Maybe 1%" could solve it right now with "a little help from a piece of paper"
Percentages for "without help", "sub 20" or "7x7x7" would be much lower.

Keep in mind that 1% of all people is about 60 million people and that "only" 300 million cubes have been sold. Even if everyone that bought one could solve it that would only be 5%


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## panyan (Jul 8, 2009)

qqwref said:


> is about 670 million people



they havent sold that many cubes have they?


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## Shnishiguh (Jul 8, 2009)

miniGOINGS said:


> http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_percent_of_people_can_solve_a_Rubik's_Cube
> You're saying that if i get 15 people in a room, on average 2 of them will be able to solve a Rubik's Cube?



umm. that link is wrong.

100 - 87.7 = 13.3 ???
i think not


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## miniGOINGS (Jul 8, 2009)

Shnishiguh said:


> umm. that link is wrong.
> 
> 100 - 87.7 = 13.3 ???
> i think not



Haha, didn't notice that till now .


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## Zaxef (Jul 8, 2009)

Another stupid thread by tfkscores...
Define "on your own"?
You solved the 7x7 knowing no algs?
Or you already knew all the algs needed from 3x3-6x6 etc.. and solved it? >_>

Edit/ps: Another thing to note is that a lot of people that can solve a 7x7 haven't done it in a competition because
A) They're like me and they've never been to a competition .. or
B) The competitions they go to don't offer 7x7 (which my first competition won't.. but I've been able to solve the 7x7 since January)


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## krnballerzzz (Jul 8, 2009)

People who have purchased a 7x7 / World population = Around that percent?


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## Paul Wagner (Jul 8, 2009)

This is a stupid thread because you're not getting the answer.


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## Kian (Jul 8, 2009)

Paul Wagner said:


> This is a stupid thread because you're not getting the answer.



Precisely. The answer is unknowable, and, it seems, even difficult to estimate. But I must assume the percentage is well under 1%.


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## Edmund (Jul 8, 2009)

The percentage I'm almost positive is under 1%. And what's the point of knowing this?


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## RampageCuber (Jul 11, 2009)

Well, technically, 100% of the world CAN solve the cube, but it would take most of them a very long time.


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## qqwref (Jul 12, 2009)

RampageCuber said:


> Well, technically, 100% of the world CAN solve the cube, but it would take most of them a very long time.



Well, *almost* everyone could figure it out eventually, but I don't think it really counts as being able to solve it if you have to figure everything out during the solve. Most people can solve the cube eventually, but the number of people who can solve it on command is a lot smaller.


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## The Second Cuber (Jul 13, 2009)

Actually 13.3 % is not totally absurd; nearly every one in a first world country has come into contact with a rubik's 3x3 at some point. 13.3% means that about a third try to solve it...so thats not to outlandish.
well I don't think anyway...(no actually literally, I don't)


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## Thieflordz5 (Jul 14, 2009)

LOL, there's one guy who says that there's a 1/43quintillion chance of solving... of course, he forgot to have the numerator as 6!/4! (I think, not the best with "!")


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## mrCage (Jul 14, 2009)

Hmmm. One could estimate how many 3x3x3 cubes have been sold. Then assume all those know how to solve it. You wont be too far off i guess. Yes, i'm aware that not all who ones one can solve it. But also some who did NOT buy one may know how to solve one. So use the total sale as an upper bound. As a wild wild guess i'd toss out less than 1%. Hmm i'd need to rephrase a little bit. This wouls esitmate how many KNOW or HAVE KNOWN how to solve the 3x3x3.

-Per


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## Mike Hughey (Jul 14, 2009)

mrCage said:


> One could estimate how many 3x3x3 cubes have been sold. Then assume all those know how to solve it. You wont be too far off i guess. Yes, i'm aware that not all who ones one can solve it. But also some who did NOT buy one may know how to solve one. So use the total sale as an upper bound.


I think you're pretty definitely overestimating with this number. In the US, it's pretty safe to say the vast majority of people who have owned a cube have never learned to solve it. If you just count the people who have gotten one in the past decade or so, the percentage is probably not so overwhelming (now they even often come with instructions), but most people who have ever owned a cube in the US got one in the 1980's. And almost no one knew how to solve one back then (as a percentage of the number of cubes sold). I would guess that the number of people here who have ever solved the cube is easily less than 10% of the number of cubes sold. I might be guessing wrong, but it would be my guess.


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## LNZ (Jul 14, 2009)

To solve a 7x7x7 cube needs the ability to solve the 3x3x3, 4x4x4 and 5x5x5 to a reasonable skill level. Just being able to solve a 3x3x3 is not enough. 

But I will say this. Anyone can solve a 1x1x1 cube in near WR time and do it blindfolded, using one hand or using only feet too.


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