Many Davis high students have found out that some people really love Rubik’s cubes, and even Mr. Frey can be seen in last year’s DTV with one. But what causes people to be so intrigued by this cube? It may be the fact that every time someone solves the cube it is different, it may be the turning, and it may be the way that the cube behaves in people’s hands. What causes a vast amount of people to love this strange object? Here are some of the reasons.

The amount of permutations (ways that the cube can be scrambled) is 43 quintillion different ways (43,252,003,274,489,856,000). This is known as God’s number to the community of speed solvers around the world. The second part of God’s number is the fact that any scramble can be solved in 20 or fewer moves.

The Rubik’s cube solution is easy to learn and very user-friendly, requiring most users to learn 4-10 algorithms to use. However more advanced methods like CFOP and the keyhole method. The CFOP Method steps are Cross, the first two layers, orienting the last layer, and Permuting the last layer. The first two steps require intuitive knowledge to complete while the last two require 78 memorized algorithms.

The CFOP method has become one of the fastest methods and now holds the world record of 3.47 seconds held by Yusheng Du.
More and more cubes have arrived since the launch of the first one. The mirror cube, Pyraminx, The 2×2, etc. The mirror cube is a 3×3 but with offset edges causing weird shapes when scrambled, the Pyraminx is the pyramid cube, and the 2×2 is the smaller cube.

Not only are the cubes confusing but they are a very good Fidget device and stress reliever. This is probably the reason that People love these strange cubes. The only downside is that the cubes can be loud and annoying to some people, however with lubricants and modifications the cube can be silenced.
Overall the cubes are extremely fun, and the University of Utah holds a competition every year. The competitions are very fun and experience ranges from Professional to Starter. These competitions are always fun even as a spectator. Next time you see someone with a Rubik’s cube those are the reasons why.