Date: 17 July 1980 01:22-EDT
From: Alan Bawden <ALAN at MIT-MC>
Subject: confusion
To: Lauren at UCLA-SECURITY
cc: CUBE-HACKERS at MIT-MC

Given a randomized cube it can take about 5 to 10 minutes to set it
straight with no aid whatsoever.  Pencil and paper or a computer can
be a great deal of help when one is first learning to solve the cube
(I used both), but I know of no one who uses such aids once they have
learned how.  A method of solution that required some computational
aid to perform (some hairy calculation based on the current
configuration of the cube, resulting in a single 259 twist sequence
that brings it immediately back to the solved state) is not
inconceivable, but most people have solutions composed of short, easily
comprehended steps.

Can anyone tell me who this Rubik character is?  His name appears to
be attached to the new American version of what some of us once knew
as the "Hungarian Cube".  Is Rubik the Hungarian who invented it?  Has
he done anything else?  I heard this rumor that there was a 4x4x4 cube
out there somewhere, anybody else heard about it?