Pyraminx notation

Notation refers to the description of what symbols indicate what moves to apply on a twisty puzzle.

The Tips:

There are 4 faces on the Pyraminx. Opposite to those there are "tips" and in the notation each tip is represented by a letter, according to where it is located. The tetra (the Pyraminx is a tetrahedron) should be held with one face facing you (red) and one down (blue). The following are designated letters and descriptions:

• U - Upper tip, the tip that points up.
• R - Rigth tip, the tip that points at your right side.
• L - Left tip, the tip that points at your left side.
• B - Back tip, the tip that points away from you.

Turns:

There are two possible rotations you can apply to each tip. The following moves should be applied as if you were looking the tip straight on. These serve to mis-align one cut of the puzzle, either to scramble or solve it. Where X is any tip, the following symbols signify pertinent moves:

• X - Clockwise turn of the tip.
• X' - Counter-clockwise turn of the tip.

This makes the following turns possible:

• R, R'
• U, U'
• L, L'
• B, B'

See also the part about the extended notation below.

Scrambling:

On top of the mayor tips there are minor tips and for scrambling the minor tips the same letters are used as for the mayor tips but in lower case: u, r, l and b. These letters are newer used in algorithms because the soloution for the minor tips is trivial, at the most one turn/tip.

Example:

r' b u' B L' U L' U' B U L' B' L B' U R' U B L' R' U L U R' L

The scrambles first 0-4 letters are in lower case, in this case three of them, r' b u' telling us to twist the corresponding minor tips, the rest of the turns are mayor tip turns.

Extensions to the notation:

Faces:

There is no standard for face notation for the Pyaminx but when describing specific edges orientation the faces are needed, normally the notation refers to the tips. In the descriptions in this wiki a face is oppisite to a tip:

• R is opposite to the L tip.
• L is opposite to the R tip.
• F is opposite to the B tip.
• D is opposite to the U tip.

This makes the six edges RF (or FR depending on orientation), LF, DF, RD, LD and RL. The first three makes the first or last layer edges, the last three the first or last tip edges depending on method used.

A perentesis marks an edge that changes orientetion, eample: (FR).

As told above the lower case letters are only used for scrambling and face turns are normally not notated. Therefore lower case letters can be used for face notation. This to notate speed optimised algorithms in some of the descriptions in this wiki. But to do that we also need a notation for puzzle orientations. It will be as follows:

First thing, to prevent grip shifts, also "half turns" and inverse half turns can be used, like R2 or R2'

Face twists:

• r ... twist the face opposite to the L tip.
• l ... twist the face opposite to the R tip.
• f ... twist the face opposite to the B tip.
• d ... twist the face opposite to the U tip.

Orientations:

• (R) ... turn the puzzle around the R-axis.
• (L) ... turn the puzzle around the L-axis.
• (U) ... turn the puzzle around the U-axis.
• (B) ... turn the puzzle around the B-axis.

Square bracets:
Square bracets [x y] are used to notate turns that can be done as one move, often used to mark turn+orient combos.

Example algs:

R B R B' R ... in normal notation, you must change grip to do three R's in a row.
[R' l'] L R L' l ... same alg but diffrent notation, no grip shifts.
[R2' (R)] L R L' [(R') R] ... same grips notated using orientations instead of faces.