# Notation problem with BH corners



## MrMoney (Apr 29, 2010)

Hola people,

I am abit confused as to how people actually "read" BH corner algs.

What is UFL (obviously I understand it means Up Front Left corner) but which STICKER is it? Is it the first letter that determines the sticker?

If so, why not ULF?

Really random I know


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## Toad (Apr 29, 2010)

It's the first letter that appears. I'm not sure if it matters whether it's ULF or UFL but just read the first letter...


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## MrMoney (Apr 29, 2010)

randomtoad said:


> It's the first letter that appears. I'm not sure if it matters whether it's ULF or UFL but just read the first letter...



Reason I ask is becaus in some Youtube-vids about Comms it seems to be the last letter 

Thank you randomtoad! 

Commutators rock!!!


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## amostay2004 (Apr 29, 2010)

The *last letter* determines which side the sticker is facing. For example, UFL means the up front left corner, with the sticker facing L, so if you hold your cube with white on U and green on F, the UFL sticker should be orange. (assuming you use the international colour scheme) 

UFL and FUL is the same, they both point to the same sticker, but ULF is different as it refers to the sticker facing the Front instead, which is green. 

Other examples: URB would be the sticker on the upper right back corner, with the sticker facing the B face, which is blue.

Edit: oh wow after reading randomtoad's post I went and check the algos and I just realise both first and last letters work! And all this while I've been using the back sticker as buffer...I fail so hard


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## MrMoney (Apr 29, 2010)

Obvious why we get confused


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## aronpm (Apr 29, 2010)

amostay2004 said:


> Edit: oh wow after reading randomtoad's post I went and check the algos and I just realise both first and last letters work! And all this while I've been using the back sticker as buffer...I fail so hard



But that depends on how you arrange the letters. On Chris's BH corner page, he lists the letters going anticlockwise. I don't know why he chose to do that. Is it a standard I'm unaware of? I always write the letters going clockwise.


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## riffz (Apr 29, 2010)

aronpm said:


> amostay2004 said:
> 
> 
> > Edit: oh wow after reading randomtoad's post I went and check the algos and I just realise both first and last letters work! And all this while I've been using the back sticker as buffer...I fail so hard
> ...



As long as you are consistent with being anti-clockwise or clockwise choosing the first or last sticker should work just fine.


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## masterofthebass (Apr 29, 2010)

amostay2004 said:


> The *last letter* determines which side the sticker is facing. For example, UFL means the up front left corner, with the sticker facing L, so if you hold your cube with white on U and green on F, the UFL sticker should be orange. (assuming you use the international colour scheme)
> 
> UFL and FUL is the same, they both point to the same sticker, but ULF is different as it refers to the sticker facing the Front instead, which is green.
> 
> ...



I'm 100% sure that the standard for naming is the first letter... The reason why the last letter works most of the time is because most people name their pieces in a consistent direction, meaning UFL will ALWAYS be UFL, not ULF. I know that I name my pieces opposite from chris, but since the first sticker is what matters, you never have a problem.


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## cmhardw (Apr 29, 2010)

Yeah, it's pretty much like Dan described. The first letter determines the actual target sticker, and our convention is to name going counterclockwise. The counterclockwise convention came from Daniel. Previous to talking with Daniel I honestly did not even know that there was a convention to name in the same direction. We only later realized that most people name clockwise, but we will probably not go through and rename each cycle, because as Dan says the first sticker, or the target sticker, is really all that matters when actually blindsolving. There are some neat patterns you can notice about the cycles if you always think of the name in the same way, but they are not absolutely necessary to solve BLD, only neat to think about/use.

Chris


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## amostay2004 (Apr 29, 2010)

I see..I didn't know that it is the norm to look at the first letter. The first time I see corner notations eg. UBR I instinctively followed the order of the letters on the cube, so I look at the U face first, then back, then end up at the R side sticker


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## qqwref (Apr 29, 2010)

Yeah, the standard is the first letter, others only work because many BLD people consistently name corners either clockwise or counterclockwise. (And MrMoney: it's "sticker", not sticky.)


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## Mike Hughey (Apr 29, 2010)

I'm surprised Chris didn't mention this, since it's a favorite idea of his in blindsolving:

The reason the last stickers work as well as the first stickers (assuming they're always labeled in the same direction) is because cycles work from any perspective. Chris calls this viewpoint shifting, and it's a useful way to learn about the BH algorithms.


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## aronpm (Apr 29, 2010)

Mike Hughey said:


> I'm surprised Chris didn't mention this, since it's a favorite idea of his in blindsolving:
> 
> The reason the last stickers work as well as the first stickers (assuming they're always labeled in the same direction) is because cycles work from any perspective. Chris calls this viewpoint shifting, and it's a useful way to learn about the BH algorithms.



Actually, I worked out how to recognize cyclic shifts like that. If there are two facing away from each other (like the T OCLL case) and one facing up, it's a cyclic shift. Same if there are 2 corners like the L OCLL case and a corner facing up (and 'between' the others). (I always rotate to make the corners on U)

I wouldn't have seen the second example though. I'm really bad at seeing optimal comms quickly. So that is really useful! I'll use it if I can't see a 8 move solution next time.


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## amostay2004 (Apr 29, 2010)

aronpm said:


> Mike Hughey said:
> 
> 
> > I'm surprised Chris didn't mention this, since it's a favorite idea of his in blindsolving:
> ...



Yes, viewpoint shifting is indeed very useful for BH corners. When you break it down, there really is only one case for cyclic shifts (and per specials too I think). It also helped me view 8-move comms as keyhole insertions, for example I sometimes use (R U2 R' U' R U R') D (R U' R' U R U2 R') D' for certain A9 and columns cases as I find it more fingertrick friendly and makes more sense to me.


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## masterofthebass (Apr 29, 2010)

amostay2004 said:


> I sometimes use (R U2 R' U' R U R') D (R U' R' U R U2 R') D' for certain A9 and columns cases as I find it more fingertrick friendly and makes more sense to me.



[D, R2 U R2 U' R2] plz


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## Sakarie (Apr 29, 2010)

masterofthebass said:


> amostay2004 said:
> 
> 
> > I sometimes use (R U2 R' U' R U R') D (R U' R' U R U2 R') D' for certain A9 and columns cases as I find it more fingertrick friendly and makes more sense to me.
> ...



U' [R2, U' L2 U] U ?

Anyway, I've never seen anyone use the last letter to indicate sticker. Would that be for edges too? Those people shoot to LU when using Classical Pochmann?

Well, it's never been like that on bigger cubes, and there it definitely makes a difference.


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