One corner oriented wrong

J

jtoc

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Joined
Apr 21, 2010
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2
Hi all,

I'm a high school math teacher, and I use a cube whenever possible in discussing mathematics with my students. Last week I allowed some students to scramble my cube for me to solve, and came across a curious problem. There is one corner oriented wrong on my cube. It's not a matter that it just needs to be turned once or twice; it's backward. That is to say, going clockwise around it, this piece should be blue/orange/yellow, and instead it's blue/yellow/orange. The rest of the cube is correctly completed.

Obviously, I can't just pop the piece off and put it in correctly. So my questions are:
(1) What did my students do to my cube?
(2) What can I do to fix it?
(3) What should I do to the students who commit such a crime against mathematics?

Thanks for your help!
 
You should tell them you won't make them do detention if they give you those sentences, one for each possible combination the cube can be. I'm not sure how advanced of a math class you teach (probably not very advanced or they wouldn't cheat like that, they'd probably be more intrigued on how to actually do it), but most students when I was in high school would have jumped to the conclusion of 54 sentences and called it a day. I would then explain to them when they turn in these sentences how they are nowhere close to done, and then explain how to calculate the total combinations haha.
 
We're you watching them scramble it? They most likely moved a sticker since most people say " I just move the stickers" other than "I popped the cube then put it together correctly."

And you could just fix it and explain to them how it's impossible to have a piece like that without someone messing with it.
 
People always make jokes about peeling the stickers off a cube and reapplying them for the win. Where can I find such stickers? Last time I tried to peel off my Cubesmiths to reapply on a different cube it didn't end well.
 
Let's start the lines off.

I will not peel the stickers off my teachers cube.
I will not peel the stickers off my teachers cube.
I will not peel the stickers off my teachers cube.

And no, before you ask, Ctrl-V is not allowed.
 
Either the stickers were removed (likely) or you have a four-dimensional student who accidentally flipped the corner and brought it back into threespace (unlikely).

I suggest asking your students to do some cubing-related homework as a punishment (as a reward?). You could start them off with easy questions like explaining why you can't have something like a red-orange edge, and then go onto possibly harder ones like explaining why you can't flip just one edge.
 
Andreas737 said:
"I will not peel the sticker's off my teacher's cube"
"I will not peel the sticker's off my teacher's cube..."
Click to expand...

megaminxwin said:
Let's start the lines off.

I will not peel the stickers off my teachers cube.
I will not peel the stickers off my teachers cube.
I will not peel the stickers off my teachers cube.

And no, before you ask, Ctrl-V is not allowed.
Click to expand...

I think lines are better when written with correct English grammar...

"I will not peel the stickers off my teacher's cube."
 
goatseforever said:
People always make jokes about peeling the stickers off a cube and reapplying them for the win. Where can I find such stickers? Last time I tried to peel off my Cubesmiths to reapply on a different cube it didn't end well.
Click to expand...

The stickers on old Rubik's cubes were different though. You could actually pull them off and reposition them and it would stick fine. My dad left his in his backpack and put his warm laptop in beside it. When he got home from work the stickers had slid off the cube because the heat had caused the adhesive to melt a bit. He just stuck them back on and they are all still fine.

randomtoad said:
Andreas737 said:
"I will not peel the sticker's off my teacher's cube"
"I will not peel the sticker's off my teacher's cube..."
Click to expand...

megaminxwin said:
Let's start the lines off.

I will not peel the stickers off my teachers cube.
I will not peel the stickers off my teachers cube.
I will not peel the stickers off my teachers cube.

And no, before you ask, Ctrl-V is not allowed.
Click to expand...

I think lines are better when written with correct English grammar...

"I will not peel the stickers off my teacher's cube."
Click to expand...

Nazi.
 
jtoc said:
(1) What did my students do to my cube?
(2) What can I do to fix it?
(3) What should I do to the students who commit such a crime against mathematics?
Click to expand...

1. What did you expect? You're a high school math teacher.
2. www.cubesmith.com
3. 50 lashes? Or, in the case of qqwref's four-dimensional student, have them sent to a secret facility in a remote location and kept there for further studying.
 
Thanks for the advice, everyone. I feared that it was stickers; this is probably a 5-year-old cube which has been, shall we say, well-loved. If I peel stickers off, I'm afraid they won't stay stuck on afterward. (Apparently my students have the secret for that.) Thanks for the advice on the replacement tiles, too.
 
There must be (at least) one student in that class who knows that you will not be able to solve the cube after sticker switching trick. There must be more he/she knows about the cube.
 
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