Message #200

From: Guy Padfield <guy@guypadfield.com>
Subject: RE: [MC4D] Saying hello
Date: Fri, 07 Oct 2005 09:24:41 +0200

Hello John,

I think the question about which cube is easier is a complex one. For most
people, the issue of paths to the final solution must be a red herring
because they solve incrementally, thinking mainly about placing just one or
two pieces at a time, and the global picture is irrelevant. For this they
use defined sequences, which they have either worked out for themselves or
learned, and which typically move three target pieces around in a known way
(otherwise disturbing only previously unplaced pieces). The application of
sequences is easier in a 3D cube for the simple reason that fewer
preliminary moves are generally required to bring relevant pieces into the
appropriate places for the sequence. The first time I solved a 4D cube I
used pencil and paper to jot down these moves so as to be able to reverse
them afterwards. Developing the sequences, however, is quite possibly easier
in a 4D cube. They are often longer sequences but because there is just so
much more room to play with it all feels less constrained. I can’t be sure
of this because I shamelessly took advantage of Roice’s help files for the
3^4 and didn’t do it all from scratch. But I invented new sequences for the
4^4 and found that relatively easy. You can shovel pieces right out of the
way, operate on where they came from and move them back in again with brute
force rather than genius.

I have been bugged by a different question since I joined the group. Why is
it that of 45 3^4 solvers, only one (I think - there are unfamiliar names
for me in the list) is female and all the rest are male? Of six 4^4 solvers,
all are male. The figures are statistically significant so we should expect
there is a reason for them. I proposed the site to a woman friend of mine
who is a far better mathematician than I and she never even bothered to try
it, whereas I felt a moral obligation to solve the cube from the moment I
set eyes on it.

Guy Padfield

_____

From: 4D_Cubing@yahoogroups.com [mailto:4D_Cubing@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of web2k2bew
Sent: 06 October 2005 20:11
To: 4D_Cubing@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [MC4D] Saying hello

Hi All,
What a delightful group! I ran across it during a Google search and
immediately came over to see what it was all about.

The link I noticed during my search was to my own 4D cube (2x2x2x2) at
http://home.rochester.rr.com/jbxroads/4cube.html

My immediate reaction is to pose my standard query about the 4D cube.

Is solving a 4D cube easier than solving a 3D one because the number
of paths to a solution grows faster than the number of positions that
must be solved?

For example, I can easily grope my way to solving the 4cube in a way
that I doubt could be done with a 3D version.

John