Method Library - A complete history of methods, techniques, and more

[arbivara]

I have a question (for anyone who might know the answer).
If I'm not misremembering my readings, the first cubes were mostly sell by a shop named Easy Toys, and they included a written tutorial with a method that ended being known as the "Easy Method". I believe that was a Corners First method. I don't see it mentioned in the library. Is it the same as one described there or is it a different one?

 

[Athefre]

I have a question (for anyone who might know the answer).
If I'm not misremembering my readings, the first cubes were mostly sell by a shop named Easy Toys, and they included a written tutorial with a method that ended being known as the "Easy Method". I believe that was a Corners First method. I don't see it mentioned in the library. Is it the same as one described there or is it a different one?

Do you remember where you read that? About Easy Toys and the method.

I keep thinking that surely there were solutions in books, booklets, or magazines in Hungary during 1977 and 1978. Just before the cube was really spread across the world. It's likely that LBL and a couple of other things were published in Hungary before other countries had the same ideas and published them. So I'm trying to find a Hungarian cuber who would be interested in helping research that time period.

 

[Athefre]

Updates:

• OLS: This one was a big update that took a lot of time. Many of the subsets didn't have the history of when and where they were proposed written anywhere. So I went back through time to find everything.
• ZZ Variants expanded
  • Modern classification system described
  • ZZ-D expanded with various sub-variants
  • Portico (proposed in 2012, not just "before 2017" as the wiki says)
  • WaterZZ
  • ZZ-EF
• Matt DiPalma's various L3C reduction systems: Added to the Steps section of the site.
  • SIMPLE
  • Speed-Heise
  • Cardan Reduction
  • CR†
  • Tripod Supplement
• L5EP
• Rubik's Snake page in Other Puzzles
• Scrambled Cross to the Commonly Proposed Methods page

Some of these really took a lot of research to figure out where each person first mentioned the idea.

 

[bcube]

For a 3x3x3 outer layer notation, would it be appropriate to attribute the s and a modifiers to David Singmaster? (I haven't seen them in use before his Notes on Rubik's Magic Cube)

 

[Athefre]

For a 3x3x3 outer layer notation, would it be appropriate to attribute the s and a modifiers to David Singmaster? (I haven't seen them in use before his Notes on Rubik's Magic Cube)

Yes. That can be attributed to Singmaster. I once considered including it on the site, but didn't because it isn't standard. Antislices are also not in demand to be notated. Maybe I'll add a section for it, noting that antislices don't yet have a standard notation.

But if we were to add a notation for simultaneous opposite layer turns, I think lowercase m, e, and s make sense.

1. Lowercase letters in the standard notation means to turn two layers. An M turn moves one layer and an m turn would move two.
2. Lowercase m, e, and s are a single letter, matching the rest of the notation.
3. It avoids having three characters to notate counter-clockwise.

To cover both non-center moving slice turns and antislice turns, we can introduce slashes into the ' and 2 group. The left side of the slash being up means both layers go clockwise and left side down means counter-clockwise.

m = L R'
m' = L' R
m2 = L2 R2
m\ = L R
m/ = L' R'

e = U' D
e' = U D'
e2 = U2 D2
e\ = U D
e/ = U' D'

s = F B'
s' = F' B
s2 = F2 B2
s\ = F B
s/ = F' B'

 

[Garf]

Is this only for 3x3, or do the methods apply to other methods like 2x2, 4x4-7x7, mega, etc?
What I'm asking if this is only for 3x3 methods, or are there methods for other puzzles?

 

[OtaMota]

Is this only for 3x3, or do the methods apply to other methods like 2x2, 4x4-7x7, mega, etc?
What I'm asking if this is only for 3x3 methods, or are there methods for other puzzles?

I know at least 2x2 methods are on there as well, such as RoFL or LEG