Message #1706

From: schuma <mananself@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: 24-cell FT solved!
Date: Sun, 15 May 2011 06:07:53 -0000

Hi,

Let me tell the story of solving the 24-cell. Everybody knows that 24-cell is much sexier than 16-cell. So after solving the 16-cell, I looked at the 24-cell. There are only five types of pieces to solve in the 24-cell, compared with eight types for the 16-cell. The 3-cycle algorithms are similar to the counterparts for the 16-cell. So it didn’t take long to find them. Unlike the 16-cell, I prepared many different rotation algorithms to fix the orientations of corners and edges, so that whenever I need any of them, I can directly pull it off the shelf without thinking. I don’t want to go into details because that would spoil the fun to those who wanna analyze it by themselves.

After I prepared all the algorithms, I still don’t know if I can face the main difficulty of the 24-cell. The main difficulty is, of course, there are too many colors. This time I use shift+left, shift+right a lot. Basically I’m using them to find pieces. I never trust my color identification ability because there are too many close colors. I only claim two pieces have the same color when they are highlighted at the same time when I use shift+right. In the beginning I wasn’t sure if I could really handle 24 colors. So I used the first step, the face centers, as a test for me. The face centers don’t need complicated algorithms. Finding pieces of certain color is everything. I started the solve on Friday afternoon, when I finished the work I had to do for the week. I solved all the face centers intuitively. It meant that I could handle the colors.

After dinner I resumed the solve from about 9pm. By 2am, I solved all the pieces except for the side-face pieces. I thought I should go on to finish it, if the side-face pieces could be solved quickly. Then I used a stopwatch to time myself on solving one such piece. In that trial I was nervous and it took me 40 seconds to spot the colors, find the place it should go (using shift+right), setup, call the macro and reverse setup. A simple calculation told me that I needed three more hours for all the pieces. So I gave up and went to bed. On Saturday I got up earlier than in weekdays and indeed spent three more hours to finish it.

This one is my longest solve to date. There are six hundred pieces or so and I can use macros. I really don’t know how someone can solve the 120-cell without macros.

Nan

— In 4D_Cubing@yahoogroups.com, Melinda Green <melinda@…> wrote:
>
> Congratulations, Nan!
> The 24 Cell is a very unique object. I’m sure we will all enjoy hearing
> your story.
> -Melinda
>
> On 5/14/2011 12:13 PM, schuma wrote:
> > Hi guys,
> >
> > I just solved the cell-turning 24-cell. The log file can be found here:
> >
> > <http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/4D_Cubing/files/Nan%20Ma/>
> >
> > This is probably my longest solve ever. It took me 9 hrs and 25 min. I’ll probably write about my experience later today.
> >
> > Nan
>