rubik’s class
There is a woman in my office who has a Rubik’s cube on her desk, and one day when I was talking to her I picked it up. While we were talking, and within about two minutes, I solved the cube. I like to solve the Rubik’s cube, and apparently had a lot of free time to practice when I was in junior high.
She was more impressed than she should have been - this is a talent I tend to like to hide from most people, similar to being able to tie a cherry stem in a knot in my mouth. Sure I can do it, but how long did I practice and of what practical use is it? She said, “Shut the front door. You gotta teach me that.”
And so started classes, probably a month and a half ago. The trouble with newbies is they want to jump right to solving the whole thing, and in order to get all of it solved you need to focus on one set of cubes at a time. First, pick your first color for your first side, and focus on getting the plus in the middle of that side correctly lined up with the middles of the adjacent sides. Then work on the corners of your first side.
Once you have your first side with the side colors in appropriate places, ONLY THEN can you start working on the middle row. There’s a relatively easy routine to use to get all of those in place. Next, work on the four corners of the bottom of the cube — another set of routines. This is the hardest part, but once that is done, you are home free. Last is the middles of the bottom, the final routine to learn.
Believe it or not, the first part - getting the first side - was the hardest to teach her. My mind is very abstract and I have been working with the cube for … for … probably 25 years. Having to describe to her how to move this square there or turn something to the left (turn what to the left? the cube? this pane?) was a test of both of our patience. She persevered, and I learned to use words to describe things I have probably never talked about for 20 years.
A month and a half later, she solved the cube on her own today. She’s almost as proud of herself as I am of her. She has to teach her daughters next.
Posted by Marie on April 10th, 2008 under Uncategorized
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