Solving the Rubik's Cube

Posted on Thu 03 April 2014 in play

See notation.

Cross of the first layer

Moves cube FD -> FU

F->F, D->U
F2
F->U, D->F
D R F' R' or F' M'D F MD

Corners of the first layer

Moves cube FDL -> FUL

F->F, D->L, L->U
L D L'
F->U, D->F, L->L
F' U' F
F->L, D->U, L->F
( F' R' ) D2 ( R F )

Second layer

Moves cube FD

F->F, D->L
( D L D' L' ) ( D' F' D F )
F->F, D->R
( D' R' D R ) ( D F D' F' )

Placing side cubes of third layer

Moves cube FU -> LU
(U F R ) U (R' U' F' )

Cross of the third layer

Rotating cube UR

Rotate UR and UB
( R MD )4 U ( R MD )4
Rotate UR and UF
( R MD )4 U' ( R MD )4
Rotate UR and UL
( R MD )4 U2 ( R MD )4

Placing corner cubes of third layer

Moves cubes FLU, FLR, RUB, cube ULB is not moving

Shift by one position clockwise
( R' F' L' F ) (R F' L F )
Shift by one position counter-clockwise
( F' L' F R' ) ( F' L F R )

Final placement

Rotate the cube FUR

[ ( R F' R' F )2 ]n {U | U' | U2 } [ ( R F' R' F )2 ]n

  • n - rotates FUR by n/3 clockwise
  • U - rotates FUR and RUB
  • U' - rotates FUR and FUL
  • U2 - rotates FUR and LUB