Evolution of WR through time (charts)

[cubizh]

I started this thread so these results could have some discussion and visibility outside the Odd WCA thread.
This shows the evolution over time of all world records under the same period of time. The scale of time (XX) is the same in all charts I used this week as the limit and 365 days intervals. This decision makes charts not have so many gaps.
The values(YY) of every chart vary according to the event. Times are in (seconds*100).

I'm not sure I will do average. It's time consuming. However, more charts will be added when they are ready.

I know the images are big, but it felt necessary in order to see it in better detail.
If you can't see them all, you can always zoom out (Ctrl-+/-).

THE EVOLUTION OF WR SINGLE:

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Here we see how the world records x years ago was compared to the current one.

[NEW] THE EVOLUTION OF WR SINGLE (through the years in % of the current):

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Single:

Rubik's Cube:

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4x4 Cube:

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5x5 Cube:

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2x2 Cube

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Rubik's Cube: Blindfolded

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Rubik's Cube: One-handed

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Rubik's Cube: Fewest Moves

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Rubik's Cube: With feet

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Megaminx

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Pyraminx

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Square-1

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Rubik's Clock

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6x6 Cube

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7x7 Cube

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4x4 Blindfolded

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5x5 Blindfolded

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Rubik's Cube: Multiple blindfolded

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Magic

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Master Magic

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Miscelaneous Charts:

3x3 vs 4x4 vs 5x5:

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3x3 vs One Handed

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3bld vs feet

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4x4 vs 3bld

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4x4 vs 3bld vs feet

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6x6 vs 7x7

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4bld vs 5bld

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[Lchu613]

The 7x7 chart shows Clock. Might want to fix that

 

[Kirjava]

time from 12.11 to 11.75 is similar to 5.66 to 5.55 o_O

cool stuff

 

[cubizh]

The 7x7 chart shows Clock. Might want to fix that

Thanks for the notice, it's fixed now.
However, I was hoping you could further comment on what is shown here...

 

[Ross The Boss]

this is pretty interesting. good job compiling all of this information. if i remember correctly, there is something simaler to this on the WCA website that also shows the #10 and #100 solve at the time.

 

[cubizh]

this is pretty interesting. good job compiling all of this information. if i remember correctly, there is something simaler to this on the WCA website that also shows the #10 and #100 solve at the time.

Yes there are, the idea was to actually build the "Miscelaneous Charts", but since the data was there, I thought of posting those too.

 

[BaMiao]

This is really cool to see. It is interesting to note the records that lasted a long time, and when big jumps have been made in a relatively short time.

It might be interesting to make notes of certain events, like the introduction of new cubes, or the first records set by notable cubers (like Feliks, for example).

 

[Lchu613]

I find it interesting how feet fell really quickly at first.

 

[Dene]

heh 7.08 gap

 

[okayama]

How about (single for vertical, or double) logarithmic charts instead of normal?
Maybe more natural.

I think the same thing about Evolution of Records.

 

[IamWEB]

I noticed that once 7.08 WR was finally broken, the following several records appeared to still be in line with the pre-7.08 times. The case is similar for 5.55, once 5.66 was finally beaten. It's as if it's all happening fairly on cue; the linear regression holds true.

 

[cubizh]

I have just added on the top post another view into the world records, this time timeline based. It's quite beautiful if you ask me.

How about (single for vertical, or double) logarithmic charts instead of normal?
Maybe more natural.

I think the same thing about Evolution of Records.

I kind of tried it but they didn't looked too right for me, maybe I'll do it some time.

 

[Stefan]

I have just added on the top post another view into the world records, this time timeline based. It's quite beautiful if you ask me.

The lines are upside down (2x2 should be on top, just like in the legend).

 

[Yuxuibbs]

Is there a reason why OH jumped so much? (the ~42 to ~26 in a super short amount of time)

 

[cubizh]

The lines are upside down (2x2 should be on top, just like in the legend).

Thanks for the remark, I have fixed it already.
I wonder what you think about what is shown in the chart though...

Is there a reason why OH jumped so much? (the ~42 to ~26 in a super short amount of time)

You'd have to ask Chris Hardwick...

 

[Stefan]

I wonder what you think about what is shown in the chart though...

Not sure. It looks neat, but I didn't notice anything particularly interesting in the data.

 

[cubizh]

Not sure. It looks neat, but I didn't notice anything particularly interesting in the data.

I agree. The one thing I kind of noticed was in the last 365 days there weren't as many wr singles as in the previous years. Not a bad thing.

 

[cmhardw]

Is there a reason why OH jumped so much? (the ~42 to ~26 in a super short amount of time)

Macky and I were competing for the world records at that time (with Ryan Patricio soon to surpass us both). At the time of US Nats 2004 Macky held the WR single with 43.31, having broken my 44.98 WR single from worlds 2003. In the first round of US Nats I got a 42.09 setting a new WR single. Macky was close behind me with a 44.46 single in the first round.

I was really feeling the pressure from Macky's times, as I felt that he was doing better at home and would get faster times in the final round. At the time I remember I was getting solves in the mid/high 30s at home, and I had gotten sub-30 solves on really good attempts too (all at home). My first solve in the final round was 35.96 for a new WR single, but I surpassed that with my second solve which was 25.95 which was my personal best single at the time too! I remember the solve having a particularly nice extended cross start, but I don't remember much else about it other than it had an A perm PLL and it just flowed really nicely for me!

Macky would surpass me by a lot at Horace Mann in 2005, and Ryan Patricio soon took over as the One-handed best in the world. Funny story: we all expected Ryan Patricio to win one-handed at Horace Mann, but Macky had a particularly on fire final round for one-handed and won the event! I think this may have been part of the motivation for Ryan, who was already world class at one-handed, to really start practicing and take over for what we thought of as the Patricio era for OH solving (he was the undisputed best OH solver for around two years at least).

 

[BaMiao]

I noticed that once 7.08 WR was finally broken, the following several records appeared to still be in line with the pre-7.08 times. The case is similar for 5.55, once 5.66 was finally beaten. It's as if it's all happening fairly on cue; the linear regression holds true.

I noticed this too. There seems to be a fairly linear trend, which is disturbed by the occasional "lucky solve" (not to detract from the amazing accomplishments that they were). I'd be more curious to see the average records, to see if the trend is for smoother, more incremental improvements.

 

[cubizh]

Macky and I were competing for the world records at that time (with Ryan Patricio soon to surpass us both). At the time of US Nats 2004 Macky held the WR single with 43.31, having broken my 44.98 WR single from worlds 2003. In the first round of US Nats I got a 42.09 setting a new WR single. Macky was close behind me with a 44.46 single in the first round.

I was really feeling the pressure from Macky's times, as I felt that he was doing better at home and would get faster times in the final round. At the time I remember I was getting solves in the mid/high 30s at home, and I had gotten sub-30 solves on really good attempts too (all at home). My first solve in the final round was 35.96 for a new WR single, but I surpassed that with my second solve which was 25.95 which was my personal best single at the time too! I remember the solve having a particularly nice extended cross start, but I don't remember much else about it other than it had an A perm PLL and it just flowed really nicely for me!

Macky would surpass me by a lot at Horace Mann in 2005, and Ryan Patricio soon took over as the One-handed best in the world. Funny story: we all expected Ryan Patricio to win one-handed at Horace Mann, but Macky had a particularly on fire final round for one-handed and won the event! I think this may have been part of the motivation for Ryan, who was already world class at one-handed, to really start practicing and take over for what we thought of as the Patricio era for OH solving (he was the undisputed best OH solver for around two years at least).

Thanks for sharing, great story!


I've updated the thread with another table showing how the WR single has evolved compared to what it was one year ago, two years ago, etc...
The colors are just visual indicators.