From cube-lovers-errors@oolong.camellia.org Thu May 29 00:28:49 1997 Return-Path: cube-lovers-errors@oolong.camellia.org Received: from oolong.camellia.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by oolong.camellia.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) with SMTP id AAA18145; Thu, 29 May 1997 00:28:48 -0400 Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@oolong.camellia.org Message-ID: <338CEAA0.6CBB@idirect.com> Date: Wed, 28 May 1997 19:32:00 -0700 From: Mark Longridge Organization: Computer Creations X-Mailer: Mozilla 2.01 (Win16; U) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Nichael Cramer CC: cube-lovers@ai.mit.edu Subject: Re: [gknauth: Professor cracks Rubik's cube mystery] References: <199705281233.IAA05016@life.ai.mit.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Nichael Cramer wrote: > > [Simply passing along bits --N] > > ----- Forwarded message # 1: > > Date: Wed, 28 May 97 08:13:32 EDT > From: gknauth@BBN.COM > Subject: Professor cracks Rubik's cube mystery > > > From: Andy Lee > > Professor cracks Rubik's cube mystery > > LOS ANGELES (May 27, 1997 5:43 p.m. EDT) - A University of California > computer science professor has solved the long-standing mystery of Rubik's > cube, university officials said Tuesday. > > Richard Korf found a way to line up the colored squares of the cube in an > average 18 moves and a maximum of 20, officials said without explaining > exactly how it is done. > > Rubik's cube, launched in the 1970s by the Hungarian Erno Rubik, became a > worldwide phenomenon, with people spending hours trying to manipulate it > into color-coordinated rows. > > Korf is due to reveal his method at a national conference on artifical > intelligence July 28 in Providence, Rhode Island. > > Copyright 1997 Nando.net, Agence France-Presse > > ----- End of forwarded messages Let's say the cube-lovers of the world are skeptical... Are we talking about q turns or q+h turns? My own conjecture (which I have kept to myself until now) was that Mike Reid's 12-flip pattern in 24 q turns was the antipode in q turns only. I have no proof of this fact. It is possible Professor Korf has found a totally new approach to the rubik problem. Dik Winter (months and months before) never did find any position on the 3x3x3 which required more than 20 moves in the q+h metric. Conventional wisdom (using Kociemba type algorithms) was that the god's algorithm for the standard 3x3x3 cube was intractible. In case case, without more evidence, this news message does not add to the existing level of cube knowledge. I'm still waiting and watching for any optimal solutions to the Megaminx spot patterns! Perhaps Professor Korf has a mathematical proof. It does seem unlikely that he sifted through all the possible positions. -> Mark