- Rubik’s Cube master, the best way to get the girls.
The Beacon Journal reports Kent State University professor Morley Davidson and a team of researchers have proved that a Rubik’s Cube can be solved in 20 moves, regardless of how mixed up its primary color patterns are.
Thirty years of intermittent research yielded the answer, which they refer to as “God’s number.” The phrase sounds like low-budget horror movie, but refers to how few moves are required if one had a God-like knowledge of every possible permutation of the cube’s pieces, all 43 gajillion of ‘em.
Google donated computer muscle to help solve the question, and the company estimated would take a single PC would take 35 years to arrive at the number. So the various researchers are, like, five years ahead of the machines.
This article appears in Aug 25-31, 2010.
