From matwood@peruvian.cs.utah.edu Thu Feb 24 14:25:20 1994 Return-Path: Received: from cs.utah.edu by life.ai.mit.edu (4.1/AI-4.10) for /com/archive/cube-lovers id AA29205; Thu, 24 Feb 94 14:25:20 EST Received: from peruvian.cs.utah.edu by cs.utah.edu (5.65/utah-2.21-cs) id AA01848; Thu, 24 Feb 94 12:25:19 -0700 Received: by peruvian.cs.utah.edu (5.65/utah-2.15-leaf) id AA22238; Thu, 24 Feb 94 12:25:18 -0700 Message-Id: <9402241925.AA22238@peruvian.cs.utah.edu> To: cube-lovers@life.ai.mit.edu Subject: Book - "Simple Solution To Rubik's Cube" Date: Thu, 24 Feb 94 12:25:17 MST From: Mark Atwood (I sent my request to be added to this mailing list in to cube-lovers-request@ai.ai.mit.edu a few days ago and havnt heard back. Hope this works..) I was going thru my stuff a while back and found my two original Rubik's Cubes, one of which was given to me several years before they became wildly popular. The solution I learned was in the book "The Simple Solution To Rubik's Cube", which was a paperback of about 20-30 pages. I remember most of the solution steps outlined in the book, (my hands remember better than my head does), however, I can't find a copy of the book anywhere, to refresh my memory. Anyone got a copy or know where I can get one? ..Mark Atwood From anandrao@hk.super.net Fri Feb 25 03:32:04 1994 Return-Path: Received: from hk.super.net by life.ai.mit.edu (4.1/AI-4.10) for /com/archive/cube-lovers id AA05974; Fri, 25 Feb 94 03:32:04 EST Received: by hk.super.net id AA21734 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for cube-lovers@life.ai.mit.edu); Fri, 25 Feb 1994 16:31:42 +0800 Date: Fri, 25 Feb 1994 16:18:56 +0800 (HKT) From: "Mr. Anand Rao" Subject: Re: your mail To: Jan de Ruiter Cc: cube-lovers@life.ai.mit.edu In-Reply-To: <2038.9402181343@xirion.xirion.nl> Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Fri, 18 Feb 1994, Jan de Ruiter wrote: > > Sorry about not reporting this earlier, but my search for solutions for > Rubiks Tangle 10x10 confirms the finding of Don Woods: no solutions! > [snip] > we could re-define the puzzle as follows: > find which four pieces to duplicate in order to find solutions for > the 10x10. > If the number of solutions varies depending on the choice, you could > even add a restriction: > find which four pieces to duplicate in order to find a set which has > the minimum number of solutions for the 10x10. ^^^^^^^ The kind Mr. Rubik has already done that - the minimum is - ZERO! The revised problem can be solved fairly easily using your program ( I don't know, though, how long it takes to run to completion for the 10*10 case) - try to place only 99 tiles out of the 100 given tiles. You may have several sub-solutions. It is then easy to determine for each of these sub-solutions which tile you need to complete the 10*10 mosaic. If this pattern has already been duplicated, i.e. you need THREE numbers of this tile to find the complete solution, this sub-solution will not work and so examine the next sub-solution .... Hopefully you find the solution this way. After running the program for the 99 tiles, the additional time required to solve the problem defined by you should not be significant because that would be a linear process. Anand. From sage@world.std.com Sun Feb 27 20:08:15 1994 Return-Path: Received: from news.std.com by life.ai.mit.edu (4.1/AI-4.10) for /com/archive/cube-lovers id AA14131; Sun, 27 Feb 94 20:08:15 EST Received: from world.std.com by news.std.com (5.65c/Spike-2.1) id AA25026; Sun, 27 Feb 1994 20:08:13 -0500 Received: by world.std.com (5.65c/Spike-2.0) id AA05694; Sun, 27 Feb 1994 20:08:08 -0500 Date: Sun, 27 Feb 1994 20:08:08 -0500 (EST) From: Meisha n Thompson Subject: Puzzle To: cube-lovers@life.ai.mit.edu Cc: Meisha n Thompson Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Please add me to your mailing list. Thank You Meisha Thompson From xirion!jandr@relay.nl.net Mon Mar 7 05:38:41 1994 Return-Path: Received: from sun4nl.NL.net by life.ai.mit.edu (4.1/AI-4.10) for /com/archive/cube-lovers id AA15552; Mon, 7 Mar 94 05:38:41 EST Received: from xirion by sun4nl.NL.net via EUnet id AA19748 (5.65b/CWI-3.3); Mon, 7 Mar 1994 11:38:38 +0100 Received: by xirion.xirion.nl id AA08619 (5.61/UK-2.1); Mon, 7 Mar 94 11:37:25 +0100 From: Jan de Ruiter Date: Mon, 7 Mar 94 11:37:25 +0100 Message-Id: <8619.9403071037@xirion.xirion.nl> X-Organization: Xirion Unix Software & Consultancy bv Burgemeester Verderlaan 15 X 3454 PE De Meern The Netherlands X-Phone: +31 3406 61990 X-Fax: +31 3406 61981 To: cube-lovers@life.ai.mit.edu To anandrao@HK.Super.NET Subject: Re: your mail Cc: cube-lovers@life.ai.mit.edu In-Reply-To: > >On Fri, 18 Feb 1994, Jan de Ruiter wrote: >> >> Sorry about not reporting this earlier, but my search for solutions for >> Rubiks Tangle 10x10 confirms the finding of Don Woods: no solutions! >> >[snip] >> we could re-define the puzzle as follows: >> find which four pieces to duplicate in order to find solutions for >> the 10x10. >> If the number of solutions varies depending on the choice, you could >> even add a restriction: >> find which four pieces to duplicate in order to find a set which has >> the minimum number of solutions for the 10x10. > ^^^^^^^ >The kind Mr. Rubik has already done that - the minimum is - ZERO! Correct, but I think you know what I mean: minimum >= 1 >The revised problem can be solved fairly easily using your program ( I >don't know, though, how long it takes to run to completion for the 10*10 >case) More than a week > - try to place only 99 tiles out of the 100 given tiles. You may >have several sub-solutions. It is then easy to determine for each of these >sub-solutions which tile you need to complete the 10*10 mosaic. I am sorry, but I have to disagree on this. It is not that simple. If you managed to place 99 pieces, you have already placed three or even all four of the duplicated pieces (depending on which one is left over) If you placed three, there are tree possibilities for the piece we need: - it is nonexistent (illegal colour combinations): no solution - it is one of the duplicated pieces: this means two of the four puzzles will be identical which is OK, but not so nice, or - it is any other piece: we found a good solution If you placed all four duplicated pieces already, any solution you find will not satisfy the conditions of the puzzle (i.e. precisely four duplicated pieces). And in both cases you have not solved: which four pieces to duplicate in order to find solutions for the 10x10. but: which four pieces to duplicate in order to find solutions for the 10x10, with the restriction that three of them must be identical to any three taken from the set of four duplicates given by Rubik. Solving the puzzle without this restriction requires a different approach. I was thinking of starting the program with 5 of each (120 pieces), and after placing the 5th duplicated piece remove the rest of the duplicates from the remaining pieces, and see if this leads to a solution. As soon as back- tracking removes the 5th duplicate, all other duplicates must be made accessible again. Jan From phiscock@ee.ryerson.ca Mon Mar 14 14:14:44 1994 Return-Path: Received: from ee.ryerson.ca (eccles.ee.ryerson.ca) by life.ai.mit.edu (4.1/AI-4.10) for /com/archive/cube-lovers id AA27518; Mon, 14 Mar 94 14:14:44 EST Received: from eccles (eccles.ee.ryerson.ca) by ee.ryerson.ca (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA24815; Mon, 14 Mar 94 14:09:20 EST From: phiscock@ee.ryerson.ca (Peter Hiscocks) Received: by eccles (4.1//ident-1.0) id AA24812; Mon, 14 Mar 94 14:09:19 EST Message-Id: <9403141909.AA24812@eccles> Subject: Anyone solved Rubik's Tangle? To: Cube-Lovers@ai.mit.edu Date: Mon, 14 Mar 94 14:09:18 EST X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL11] For those who haven't seen it, Rubik's Tangle is a new puzzle to drive us all nuts, break up our families, and divert us from the things we should be working on. It consists of 25 tiles, which form a 5x5 pattern. On each tile is a pattern of coloured ropes, the ends of which must match the ends of the ropes on the adjacent tiles. Certain clues are evident: the shape of each rope pattern is the same, there are equal numbers of each colour, and each tile given a letter label on the back. Before I waste my life on this, has anyone solved the problem? Peter -- Peter Hiscocks Phone: (416) 979-5000 Ext 6109 Department of Electrical Engineering Fax: (416) 979-5280 Ryerson Polytechnical University, Toronto, Canada From Don.Woods@eng.sun.com Mon Mar 14 16:14:51 1994 Return-Path: Received: from Sun.COM by life.ai.mit.edu (4.1/AI-4.10) for /com/archive/cube-lovers id AA04648; Mon, 14 Mar 94 16:14:51 EST Received: from Eng.Sun.COM (zigzag.Eng.Sun.COM) by Sun.COM (sun-barr.Sun.COM) id AA18187; Mon, 14 Mar 94 13:14:25 PST Received: from colossal.Eng.Sun.COM by Eng.Sun.COM (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA01909; Mon, 14 Mar 94 13:13:31 PST Received: by colossal.Eng.Sun.COM (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA18313; Mon, 14 Mar 94 13:15:06 PST Date: Mon, 14 Mar 94 13:15:06 PST From: Don.Woods@eng.sun.com (Don Woods) Message-Id: <9403142115.AA18313@colossal.Eng.Sun.COM> To: phiscock@ee.ryerson.ca Subject: Re: Anyone solved Rubik's Tangle? Cc: Cube-Lovers@ai.mit.edu X-Sun-Charset: US-ASCII Content-Length: 397 > Before I waste my life on this, has anyone solved the problem? Yes, it's been solved, and discussed at some length on this group. However, I haven't seen anyone who claims to have come up with an "insightful" solution, i.e. one in which you figure out a general approach that leads to a solution. All solutions I've heard of have been found by exhaustive search, often by computer. -- Don. From anandrao@hk.super.net Mon Mar 14 21:27:38 1994 Return-Path: Received: from hk.super.net by life.ai.mit.edu (4.1/AI-4.10) for /com/archive/cube-lovers id AA20935; Mon, 14 Mar 94 21:27:38 EST Received: by hk.super.net id AA15765 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for Cube-Lovers@ai.mit.edu); Tue, 15 Mar 1994 10:27:05 +0800 Date: Tue, 15 Mar 1994 10:15:06 +0800 (HKT) From: "Mr. Anand Rao" Subject: Re: Anyone solved Rubik's Tangle? To: Don Woods Cc: phiscock@ee.ryerson.ca, Cube-Lovers@ai.mit.edu In-Reply-To: <9403142115.AA18313@colossal.Eng.Sun.COM> Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Mon, 14 Mar 1994, Don Woods wrote: > > Before I waste my life on this, has anyone solved the problem? > > Yes, it's been solved, and discussed at some length on this group. True. However, the 10*10 solution where you use all the four tangle puzzles to form a 10*10 pattern with matching edges, has been found to be impossible( Although the puzzle leaflet says that it is solvable). Once again there is no 'insightful' solution. Someone has posted that he has seen an intuitive solution which evades his memory for the time being but will try to recollect what it was ... reincarnation of Fermat's Last Problem :). There have been some interesting postings in this