Introduction

I still remember the first time I saw a Rubik's cube - that was in 1981... My mathematical mind was immediately attracted by this weird object that, seemingly, could lend itself to three-dimensional rotation! Still in the early stages of my great interest in Mathematics, I was very far from realising that the Cube was a puzzle that could be solved only through deep thinking.

Thinking that it should be relatively easy to solve for me, I tried twisting and turning it at random but, obviously, to no avail. To my amazement, the next time I came across the Cube, there it lay, solved in my classmate's hands! Kirvind Gaya (that's my friend's name) actually learnt the solution from a book and had the patience and kindness to share it with me - I was still a 16-year old kid in Lower VI at the Royal College Curepipe then.

This formula has been engraved in my mind ever since and, today, it's my pleasure to share it with you. It happens to be one of the numerous ways of solving Rubik’s Cube but definitely not the fastest method of solving the Cube (oh yes, the Rubik’s Cube will, from now on, be called the Cube). However, it will surely calm down any headache that you might have been suffering from for ages...

Obviously, you just cannot solve the Cube fortuitously just by merely rotating its sides or faces at random - that’s wishful thinking and might take you more than a lifetime! The Cube is solved by rows and not by faces as you might have imagined. Surprisingly, it is the initial face that is the one which usually takes the longest time to be arranged. Once it is over, the rest is just a matter of practising the formula!

Rubik's Cube: The Revenge! Get ready for the sequel...