Message #270

From: Jay Berkenbilt <ejb@ql.org>
Subject: Re: 4d cube problem
Date: Wed, 07 Jun 2006 14:54:39 -0400

ALEX KORMENDI <kormendi@jhu.edu> wrote:

> I was playing around with the java version of the 4d cube. When the
> cube size is set to 4 (or 5), and you ask the program the scrable it
> (any amount), often the inner cubes will be mixed. e.g. in a
> 5x5x5x5 cube, in one of the 5x5x5 "sub-cubes" there are 108 outer
> faces (which can be scrambled) surrounding 27 inner faces (which I
> thought could not be scrambled). These inner faces will be
> scrambled, presumable making the cube unsolvable. Naturally this
> couldn’t happen on the size 3 cube, since there is only 1 inner
> face. Am I right that you aren’t supposed to be able to
> (un)scramble these inner faces and that the program has a bug, or am
> I completely mistaken, and if so, how does one munipulate the inner
> faces?
>
> Cheers,
> Alex

Hello. I’m copying the 4d_cubing list on my reply in case someone
else wants to chime in. You’ll have better luck on questions or
comments about the 4d cube software by posting to the yahoo group.

I believe you’re probably misunderstanding what you’re seeing on the
display. The inner cubies are not visible or manipulatable with the
mc4d software. What you are seeing are really inner stickers on the
three-dimensional faces of the puzzle. In order to be able to turn
the inner slices, you need to use the "slices mask" feature: hold down
the number keys (1 through 5 in this case) to determine which slices
get rotated when you click somewhere. For example, holding down 2 and
3 together while clicking on a face in the 5^4 puzzle will turn not
the top slice but some of the inner slices. You’ll probably
understand this best by trying it and seeing what I mean. Hopefully
this will help. If not, go ahead and reply copying the list and I or
someone else can surely provide additional information. Thanks!

–
Jay Berkenbilt <ejb@ql.org>