• Welcome to the Speedsolving.com, home of the web's largest puzzle community!
    You are currently viewing our forum as a guest which gives you limited access to join discussions and access our other features.

    Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community of 40,000+ people from around the world today!

    If you are already a member, simply login to hide this message and begin participating in the community!

Best/Most Useful Threads on Speedsolving.com

pjk

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 13, 2006
Messages
6,686
WCA
2007KELL02
SS Competition Results
In effort to help new users find the best content in the forums over the years, I want to begin compiling a list of the community's best/most useful/must read threads and posts.

I've started a bit by compiling a short list of the best guides/how-tos from that section which I've put below, but want to make a more extensive list of the top threads overall. If you can help contribute, please reply to this thread with links to other threads you think should be included in the Best Threads/Must Reads for new members.

Tutorials/Help Threads:

Blindfold Solving Tutorials:

Tools:

History:

Methods:

God's Number:

Group Theory:

Algorithm (Lengths?):

Big Cube Theory, Formulas and/or Calculations:

FMC:

Optimization Topics (Besides God's Number and FMC)

Miscellaneous Puzzle Theory (and/or Math-related) Topics

Miscellaneous
 
Last edited:

GenTheSnail

Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2016
Messages
2,249
Location
Illinois, USA
WCA
2016GEEN01
YouTube
Visit Channel
Last edited:

pjk

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 13, 2006
Messages
6,686
WCA
2007KELL02
SS Competition Results
Great start here to the list of the most useful threads. Does anyone have any other good ones? This one I'll add as well. Lets keep this building and I'll update the main thread with the complete list of suggestions.
 

pjk

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 13, 2006
Messages
6,686
WCA
2007KELL02
SS Competition Results
I am not asking anyone to agree with all of the threads in the following list, but at least it could spark a few ideas (from the older members). I would have added parity algorithm threads (since that is/was a hot topic), but I covered that in the Wiki. (@pjk, you can look there in external links to retrieve some that you liked, if you want. Also thanks for adding my cubing contributions thread. That reminded me to update all of the broken links in my contributions post!):

Cube Theory Quiz
https://www.speedsolving.com/forum/threads/cube-theory-quiz-1.44461/

Any books about puzzle theory?
https://www.speedsolving.com/forum/threads/any-books-about-puzzle-theory.25458/

Calculating Permutations on nxnxn Rubik's cube
http://www.speedsolving.com/forum/threads/calculating-permutations-on-nxnxn-rubiks-cube.22683/

Formula for Calculating Positions of a NxNxN Cube?
https://www.speedsolving.com/forum/threads/formula-for-calculating-positions-of-a-nxnxn-cube.48155/

Number of solved positions for a 7x7x7
https://www.speedsolving.com/forum/threads/number-of-solved-positions-for-a-7x7.20792/

Number of cubies problem
http://www.speedsolving.com/forum/threads/number-of-cubies-problem.22905/

Edge Flip and Corner twist Proof?
https://www.speedsolving.com/forum/threads/edge-flip-and-corner-twist-proof.24595/

Intro to group theory
https://www.speedsolving.com/forum/threads/intro-to-group-theory.4908/

4x4 linear fewest moves challenge
https://www.speedsolving.com/forum/threads/4x4-linear-fewest-moves-challenge.31779/

Developing a better LL system
https://www.speedsolving.com/forum/threads/developing-a-better-ll-system.36791/

What is the minimum number of algorithms needed for 2 look last layer?
https://www.speedsolving.com/forum/...lgorithms-needed-for-2-look-last-layer.47581/

Algorithm thread
https://www.speedsolving.com/forum/threads/algorithm-thread.42604/

"Cross" Meta-Method for 4x4x4
https://www.speedsolving.com/forum/threads/cross-meta-method-for-4x4x4.17783/

Move count metrics for big cubes - standards and preferences
https://www.speedsolving.com/forum/...or-big-cubes-standards-and-preferences.23546/

Announcing: New 4x4x4 Brute Force Solver
https://www.speedsolving.com/forum/threads/announcing-new-4x4x4-brute-force-solver.46925/

What is God's number on a 4x4 Rubik's cube?
https://www.speedsolving.com/forum/threads/what-is-gods-number-on-a-4x4-rubiks-cube.35965/

What is "Intelligence"?
https://www.speedsolving.com/forum/threads/what-is-intelligence.3079/

3x3 Rubik's Cube Patterns and Particle Physics
https://www.speedsolving.com/forum/threads/3x3-rubiks-cube-patterns-and-particle-physics.51710/

The entire cube is 2-gen!
https://www.speedsolving.com/forum/threads/the-entire-cube-is-2-gen.19751/

Probability Thread
https://www.speedsolving.com/forum/threads/probability-thread.20384/

Mathematics Thread
https://www.speedsolving.com/forum/threads/mathematics-thread.35625/

Inversion by conjugation
https://www.speedsolving.com/forum/threads/inversion-by-conjugation.43981/

My ultimate commutator challenge (Math Problem - 12 is related, for those interested.)
https://www.speedsolving.com/forum/threads/my-ultimate-commutator-challenge.29706/

The interrelation of piece parities on the n x n x n supercube
https://www.speedsolving.com/forum/...ce-parities-on-the-n-x-n-x-n-supercube.26422/

How do I find a square root of a Rubik's cube?
https://www.speedsolving.com/forum/...uare-root-of-a-rubiks-cube.42199/#post-861663

A Hamiltonian circuit for Rubik's Cube!
https://www.speedsolving.com/forum/threads/a-hamiltonian-circuit-for-rubiks-cube.35505/
Excellent! If you come across or think of any others, please post them. Thanks.
 

Old Tom

Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2014
Messages
187
Location
Virginia
WCA
2018DOYL02
Great start here to the list of the most useful threads. Does anyone have any other good ones? This one I'll add as well. Lets keep this building and I'll update the main thread with the complete list of suggestions.

The Older Cubers Discussion thread is now approaching 1000 pages. It is currently heavy on blind solving tips, but in general welcomes anyone, tending to be around 40+ (I'm 80), but anyone 25+. A very encouraging bunch that helps newbies, but also goes deep into advanced stuff. Made me feel part of the community, and they got me to enter my first comp last month.
 

pjk

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 13, 2006
Messages
6,686
WCA
2007KELL02
SS Competition Results
The Older Cubers Discussion thread is now approaching 1000 pages. It is currently heavy on blind solving tips, but in general welcomes anyone, tending to be around 40+ (I'm 80), but anyone 25+. A very encouraging bunch that helps newbies, but also goes deep into advanced stuff. Made me feel part of the community, and they got me to enter my first comp last month.
Will add it to the list, thanks!
 

Christopher Mowla

Premium Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2009
Messages
1,184
Location
Earth
YouTube
Visit Channel
@pjk, I apologize, but I grabbed all the threads from my previous post and put them in this post with these additional threads, as some of them are in the same "category" as the new ones (which I forgot to mention before).

Again, these are just my opinion. So add only the ones you want. There's no pressure to add any of them, despite that I know almost everyone will at least agree that one of these should be considered in this selection. In addition, they are not in any particular order.
Tools
History

God's Number:
Group Theory

Algorithm (Lengths?)

Big Cube Theory, Formulas and/or Calculations

FMC

Optimization Topics (Besides God's Number and FMC)
Methods

"How Algorithms Work?" Threads

Miscellaneous Puzzle Theory (and/or Math-related) Topics

Miscellaneous
 
Last edited:

pjk

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 13, 2006
Messages
6,686
WCA
2007KELL02
SS Competition Results
@pjk, I apologize, but I grabbed all the threads from my previous post and put them in this post with these additional threads, as some of them are in the same "category" as the new ones (which I forgot to mention before).

Again, these are just my opinion. So add only the ones you want. There's no pressure to add any of them, despite that I know almost everyone will at least agree that one of these should be considered in this selection. In addition, they are not in any particular order.
Excellent, much appreciated. The plan is to have a sticky or page with the most useful threads so people can easily start reading and learning from the best of the community. If you have any others, please reply here and I'll update them over time. Many of the best threads are years old too, so there may be more to be said and discussed now. Feel free to continue the discussion if you have further thoughts.

If anyone else has any suggestions, please post them.
 

pjk

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 13, 2006
Messages
6,686
WCA
2007KELL02
SS Competition Results
I've updated and formatted the original topic and added more threads. If you suggest another format or other posts to add, please let me know. This is a good start and will be useful for people looking to read some of the best threads on the forum.
 

Loser

Member
Joined
Sep 4, 2017
Messages
306
Location
Massachusetts, USA
WCA
2016QUIN01
I've updated and formatted the original topic and added more threads. If you suggest another format or other posts to add, please let me know. This is a good start and will be useful for people looking to read some of the best threads on the forum.
Maybe put each group of threads in a spoiler? That would make it easier to find what you what quicker
 

pjk

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 13, 2006
Messages
6,686
WCA
2007KELL02
SS Competition Results
Maybe put all bld ones in their own category, seperate from sighted tutorials. Also that cubing vocab thread has like 2 things lol.
I went ahead and put things in spoilers, but BLD into it's own, and removed the vocab link. Thanks for the suggestions, if you have others please let me know.
 
Joined
Jan 15, 2019
Messages
3,424
Location
Hong Kong
WCA
2023FUKU01

MJS Cubing

Member
Joined
Dec 20, 2019
Messages
1,270
Location
right behind you
WCA
2019SULL02
YouTube
Visit Channel
Sorry for the bump, but I believe this is a truly useful and very helpful thread.
 
Top