Alternative notations
Please note that this alternative notation is not my own, I have used it as it was on another web site. The email of the person there has expired, so I did not get his permission. If the owner of that site, Oliver or anyone who knows him finds this site, please ask him to email me. I take no credit for this notations, and hope that by including it in my page I do not offend him in any way. Please see his web site
Before we get started, we must work out a method for describing the various moves that will be made. There are six faces, with the following notations:
- Upper, or top face = U
- Down, or bottom face = D
- Left face = L
- Right face = R
- Front face = F
- Back face = B
We can turn each face either clockwise or counter-clockwise, with respect to the center (i.e. a move that may be clockwise to you, when looking at the cube, may not be clockwise for that face, in relation to the middle of the cube). The names for the different kind of moves (I'll use the U face as an example) are:
- A 90-degree turn clockwise on a face, is denoted by U.
- A 90-degree turn counter-clockwise on a face is denoted by U' ("U prime") (Also note this is the same as U, done three times).
- A 180-degree turn either clockwise or counter-clockwise on a face, is denoted by U2 ("U squared") and is the same as two clockwise turns, or two counter-clockwise turns.
Using the above notation and defining the completed side of the cube as the Upper, and the face that you are working with as the front, Step 2 can be explained as.
The
green face will be the front face because that is the side that you are working
with. When you work with another color say the red face, then that will
be defined as front in the moves below.
- D' ------Move bottom row left 1 turn (THIS Will move the middle block to the right, as required in the second picture)
- R' ------Move right column down 1 turn
- D ------Move bottom row right 1 turn
- R ------Move right column up 1 turn.
This will have removed one of the corner pieces of the top, all you do now is put that piece back in the conventional way. Eventually the putting back move will become part of the first 4 above making this move into an 8 turn move.
To put the corner piece back do the following moves.
- D -----Move bottom row right 1 turn
- F -----Move left column down 1 turn (This left column is not the same as the one mentioned in 1-4 above, the whole cube has rotated to the left one turn)
- D' -----Move bottom row left 1 turn
- F' -----Move left column up 1 turn. (This should complete the top of the cube again)
VISA VERSA (To put the block on the other side) Below is the same moves but just the opposite way round.
- D ------Move bottom row right 1 turn (Will move the middle block to the left as shown in picture 1 above.)
- L ------Move left column down 1 turn
- D' ------Move bottom row left 1 turn
- L' ------Move left column up 1 turn.
This will have removed on of the corner pieces of the top, all you do now is put that piece back in the conventional way. Eventually the putting back move will become part of the first 4 steps above making this move into an 8 turn move.
- D' ------Move bottom row left 1 turn
- F' ------Move right column down 1 turn (This right column is not the same as the one mentioned in 1-4 above, the cube has rotated to the right one turn)
- D ------Move bottom row right 1 turn
- F ------Move right column up 1 turn. (This will complete the top of the cube again)
Back to Move 1 or to be quicker go back on the browser
Turn the cube so that the bottom is facing up. With the middle blocks in the right positions, as they should be at the end of move 2, rotate the whole cube horizontally until the middle block that you want to "turn around" is on the right hand side. (See picture)
This picture shows where the middle block must be for you to do "Move 3" on it. Look at the position of the yellow block. (remember you are now looking at the bottom of the cube) The block must be in the 3 o'clock position.
Then do "Move 3"
For our alternative solution lets define the sides of the cube. The bottom will now be define as the Upper but only for the alternative notation. So in the picture above the blue (middle piece) side is the Upper, with the green side as the front, and the other sides as they are logically called from the notation explained above.
- R ------Move the right hand column away 1 turn. (This is the column that contains the block you are working with, the yellow block must go the the back in the above picture)
- D' U ------Move the middle row right 1 turn (This will require you to move the middle & the top row to the right 1 turn & then to move the top row back to the left)
- Then you repeat 1. & 2. three more times (the same column is turned away 4 times, the alternative notation does not allow for this easily so I have omitted it to prevent confusion), until your yellow block appears but with blue facing the bottom and yellow facing to yellow.
- U or U' -----Then you rotate the top row, to bring the next
middle block that you want to turn into "the position" (3
o'clock). IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU DON'T MOVE THE WHOLE CUBE,
JUST TURN THE TOP ROW, keep the color facing you the same, in this case it
is the green
color.
In
this picture the yellow block has been turned
around (see previous picture), now the top row needs to be turned
anticlockwise ( to put the green & blue
middle block in the position on the middle right, 3 o'clock.
Then do 1. & 2. again 4 times. - IMPORTANT: DON'T FORGET THAT WHEN YOU SEE THE MIDDLE PIECE IN THE RIGHT PLACE THEN YOU STILL HAVE ONE MOVE LEFT, that is to turn the middle row to the right. This is not an extra move it is just the last turn of the move, "move 3"
- After the 8th time you will see that the rest of the cube has returned to where it was & the middle blocks that you wanted rotated are rotated. If not then try again. (See picture of what it should look like)
- Another important note is that this move works in 2's or 4's in other words if you get to the end of step 3 and you see that there is only 1 middle block that is the wrong way round then your cube cannot be completed and was probably put back together incorrectly. The same goes for if you have to turn three around. It can only be 2 or all 4 middle blocks.
Here
all the middle blue blocks are facing the right way & they are in the right
positions.
Back to Move 3 Or go back on the browser
See above for the explanation of the notation
This is "Move 5": Hold the cube with the bottom facing up, & the corner piece that you want to rotate must be in the bottom right hand corner.
For the alternative notation the blue side is the Upper side, and the red side is the front side, the other sides are named as the explanation above defines
The
piece that we are going to change is the bottom right hand corner piece (the green
piece)
- R ------Right Side away from you (This is the green & yellow side)
- F' ------Front side to the left (This is the green & red side, The colors I am mentioning here are of the bottom side, the predominantly blue side)
- R' ------Right side back towards you
- F ------Front side back to the right.
This must be repeated until the corner piece that you are rotating is the right way, (you will see that it is the right way when the colors match up). Once the corner piece is in the right orientation (& you have completed the sequence of 4 turns) then you need to rotate the top row (The predominantly blue row, U or U'), this is the same row that is rotated in the middle of "Move 3" (See picture)
Here
the green corner piece has been rotated. The top row now needs to be
rotated to get the red block in the bottom right
hand side position. DON'T CHANGE THE ORIENTATION OF THE CUBE, KEEP THE RED
MIDDLE BLOCK FACING YOU. The state of the cube is not important, it will
come right when you have completed this step.
Once the top row is rotated (in the picture above it would be U') then you can continue with the steps 1 to 4 mentioned above. You continue this move until all the corner pieces have the right orientation. It is not the same number of turns each time, it depends where the colors are.
Here
the red piece has been rotated. The top side needs to be turned now to
bring the yellow block to the bottom right hand
corner position. To do this it would be U2
according to the alternative notation.
REMEMBER NOT TO CHANGE THE ORIENTATION OF THE CUBE, THE
RED MIDDLE PIECE MUST KEEP FACING YOU.
It is advisable not to look at the cube while doing this move, just methodically do the moves & have a little faith. The cube will fall into place at the last move.
Message Board Solution to Steps 2 and 3
This dialog is taken from a previous message board where moves 2 and 3 were explained. The two colors of writing are the two people. Blue is the Student and White is the teacher.
Okay, I have the top face solved, which is white. And I have the top two layers on the 4 sides done. I have no idea how to get the bottom row complete.
ok so you at the stage where you have to do move 2. This moves rotates three of the bottom middle pieces either clockwise or anticlockwise, while keeping one middle block in the same position. Do you understand this?
Yes, I was reading about this earlier. I couldn't get it to work though.
ok, turn the cube so that the bottom is facing to the top. Then rotate the bottom row (the one facing you, the row that is not complete.) until only one middle block is in the right position. Remember the colors don't have to match up exactly for the piece to be in the right position. Have you got only one middle piece in the right position?
Alright, I did it. But I think I have a problem, if I remember what I read correctly, I have 2 squares that are in the right position. That's not good right?
Yes that is unfortunate. Sometimes you can turn the cube to get only one piece in in the right position. If you can't you have to do the move with any of the pieces. This is good practice for doing move 2. :-) ok, the move is. Pick a bottom middle piece any of the four. Turn the whole cube so that the top is now facing up and the bottom is facing down. using you randomly chosen middle piece you need to do move 2, starting to the left or the right it does not matter. If you don't know move 2 yet it is simply move 1 to the right and move 1 to the left again. THE MIDDLE PIECE MUST RETURN TO ITS ORIGINAL POSITION BEFORE DOING MOVE 1 FOR THE SECOND TIME. Do you understand this?
Yeah I understand, gimme a minute.
Alright, I just did Move 2, and now the only piece that's on the bottom row that is lined up in the middle is the red piece. This is what I wanted right?
That's what you want. Now turn the cube so that the bottom is facing you again. Put your finger on the red middle piece. Then rotate the other three middle pieces clockwise or anticlockwise (in your mind). One of these directions will put all the middle pieces in their right positions. Have you been able to identify the direction you need to rotate the other three pieces? Please give me the colors of the four sides below the white top.
Note that when I say "decide" on the direction to rotate the other three middle pieces, you must not actually do any moves. Move 2 when done properly automatically rotates the three middle pieces. Just making sure that there is no confusion here.
Oh alright, I guess I'll do it clockwise, I think that would put them all in position.
ok, to rotate the pieces clockwise. turn the whole cube so that the white side is facing the top again. Using the middle piece that is not going to move, start the move by rotating the bottom row to the left. Don't do this until you reply, and make sure that you understand what I mean by left.
Alright. Yes, I understand what you mean by left. Can I turn it left now?
ok, turn left. The when you have done move 1 once do it again, but this time starting to the right. (This will simply put back the middle piece that you have removed.)
Alright one second, do I turn the piece to the left now, then start move 1 to the left? Or just start move 1 to the left?
Just start move 1 to the left. With the piece that is not going to rotate.
Alright, sorry for the dumb question, I just don't want to mess this up! :-D
I wait in anticipation. :-)
Alright, I did it. but now my second row for my red and green are missing a piece. Is that supposed to happen?
ok, that is because you only did move 1 one time. You need to do it again. You can just put back the red/green piece that has been removed in the same way that you did earlier when you were completing the second row. When you have done this then the move will be complete.
Alright I have all of the second layers back, but I don't really see a difference in the bottom layer, the very bottom of the cube changed though.
if you now turn the whole cube so that the bottom is facing you again. Then match up one middle piece, you should see that all four middle pieces are in the right positions. How does it look?
Alright, now all of the bottom layer has the middle cube of that layer matching up with that sides center.
Excellent. Now for move 3. this is a very simple move. Have you looked at the animation on my site for this move?
I read through your whole tutorial, but I don't remember it. I have mainly been working on move 1 and 2..but I'm gonna check it out now. I'll read it and then tell you if I understand it, and with the way things have been so far...I probably won't :-D
.....
Arg... I was looking at the pictures you have needed to do move 3, and I don't think mine is right. On my cube, I have the third layer middle pieces lined up with their right side. So I have a solid line of red going down the middle, a solid line of blue, orange and green. But on one of the pictures on your site, it shows to layers of the green done, but it doesn't have a green one on the bottom layer in the middle.
It is possible that all four pieces are the right way around, i.e. with the green, red, black and orange matching up. Or maybe you have only two colors matching up. Or the worst case scenario, you have no colors matching up. From your reply it sounds like you have all the pieces matching the right colors. Do not worry about the corner pieces.
I'm not worried about the corners, it's just that I thought that I was supposed to have the cubes on the very bottom face match up with bottom layer in the middle. But I have it where they match up on the bottom layer already.
That is great. You will not always be so lucky:-) look on my site at the bottom of move 3, and compare your cube with the picture that you see there. You should have the top face, two rows below the top face and all the bottom row middle pieces totally completed. Is this the case?
Phew...YES it is. I thought this was the way I was supposed to have it. Then I thought I did it wrong and I had messed up everything you were telling me. But I do have the correct way. Then I tried move 3 and I TOTALLY messed my cube up. But I put it back together the correct way again in no time.
Alright, so now that I have all of the middle pieces lined up, I can start Move 4 right?
Ok now for the hardest move to understand. The move itself is easy. move 4 rotates three corner pieces clockwise or anticlockwise. The concept is the same as that used for move 2 where you rotate three of the middle pieces. In the beginning it is easier to use a pen and paper to work it out. Turn the cube so that the bottom is facing up. Look at the corner pieces to see if there is one in the right position. the colors do not have to match up, but the piece must be in the right position. Have you got one in the right position?
