SiGN notation

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The SiGN notation is a notation method for NxNxN cubes.

Notation

Basic notation

  • U turns the up face 90 degrees (one quarter turn) clockwise
  • D turns the down face 90 degrees (one quarter turn) clockwise
  • L turns the left face 90 degrees (one quarter turn) clockwise
  • R turns the right face 90 degrees (one quarter turn) clockwise
  • F turns the front face 90 degrees (one quarter turn) clockwise
  • B turns the back face 90 degrees (one quarter turn) clockwise
  • Adding a ' symbol, pronounced "prime", to the end of one of the letters denotes a turn of that layer 90 degrees (one quarter turn) counterclockwise.
  • Adding a 2 symbol to the end of one of the letters denotes a turn of that layer 180 degrees (one half turn or two quarter turns).
    • If a half move is done counterclockwise, the 2 comes before the '.

Slices

  • M indicates that the layers between the L and R layers is turned in the same direction as an L turn
  • S indicates that the layers between the F and B layers is turned in the same direction as an F turn
  • E indicates that layers between the U and D layers is turned in the same direction as a U turn

Rotations

  • x indicates that the entire cube is rotated in the same direction as an R turn
  • y indicates that the entire cube is rotated in the same direction as a U turn
  • z indicates that the entire cube is rotated in the same direction as an F turn
    • ' and 2, both mentioned in the Basic Notation section, can be added to rotations to indicate a reverse rotation and double rotation respectively

Additional notation

  • Adding a number before the letter denotes that a deeper layer is being turned.
    • e.g. 2U would indicate the layer second top-most layer is being turned 90 degrees clockwise
  • Lowercasing a letter, sometimes called a wide move, denotes that the outer two layers are being turned
    • e.g. u would indicate that the two top-most layers are being turned 90 degrees clockwise
  • Putting a number before a lowercase letter indicates that that number of outer layers is being turned
    • e.g. 3u would indicate the three top-most layers are being turned 90 degrees clockwise
  • Lowercasing a slice denotes that a move is done that is between their respective layers, but those layers are wide
    • e.g. m or 2m would indicate all layers between the layers affected by r or 2r and l or 2l moves are moved, 3m would indicate all layers between the layers affected by 3r and 3l moves are moved, 4m would indicate all layers between the layers affected by 4r and 4l are moved, etc.

More extensions

  • Moves in parenthesis are treated like values are in algebra
    • e.g. (R U R' U')3 would indicate that R U R' U' is repeated three times; (R U R' U')' would indicate that each move is reversed, resulting in R' U' R U; etc.
  • Moves in square brackets indicate commutators and conjugates
    • Commutator: [R, U] would indicate that R U R' U' is performed
    • Conjugate: [R: U] would indicate that R U R' is performed

See also

References

  • "Sign Notation". MZRG, [1]. Accessed 18 February 2018.