algorithms to solve rubik's cube

I typed this up to show as an example of an ALGORITHM. What is below is all based on Dan Brown's youtube videos. 

Notation:
--------
F = Front side of cube (facing you)
U = Upper side
L = Left side
R = Right side
D = Down side

green side = side with green in center
white side = side with white in center
etc...

center piece = piece in center of a side
corner piece = pieces at the corners
edge piece = not center or corner pieces
cube labels picture 

Algorithm Notation:
------------------
F = turn front side clockwise by 90 degrees
F' = turn front side counter-clockwise by 90 degrees
U = turn upper side clockwise by 90 degrees
U' = turn upper side counter-clockwise by 90 degrees
2U = turn upper side by 180 degrees 
     (clockwise or counter-clockwise...it doesn't matter)
R = turn right side clockwise by 90 degrees 
     (clockwise, as if you were facing it)
R' = turn right side counter-clockwise by 90 degrees
etc...
cube F rotation picture cube F' rotation picture cube F' result rotation picture cube L rotation picture cube L rotation picture cube L' rotation picture 

1. Solve the green side first

 > start with green side up
   > find a green edge piece and move it to the Down side
   > rotate Down side until other color on the edge piece
     matches the center piece
   > now twist side 180 degrees to get green edge on green side
   > if it's all OK, move on to next edge piece
   > if edge is in correct spot but flipped, do F' U L' U'
green up green/white edge move to bottom rotate bottom back to top after edge flip 

 at this point, after getting all 4 green edge pieces in place,
 you should have the green cross on top and all edge pieces
 should be correct
green cross green cross other side 

 > fix green side corners:
   > find a green corner and get it directly under where it should
     go (match the other two colors on the corner piece to the 
     other two side colors)
   > with the piece you are working on in the bottom right corner,
     do R' D' R D from 1-6 times (keeping the same face forward at all times)
   > once that corner is done, solve the other 3
green corner not in place green corner in place green corner done 

 at this point you should have the green side done and all of
 the first layer done (and all edge pieces matching their correct
 sides)
first layer done first layer done other side 

2. Solve the second layer...

 > turn green side down, blue side up
 > find an edge piece without blue in it (see ** if can't do this)
 > twist the top blue side so edge piece matches side color
 > with that piece front and center, look for which side (left
   or right) matches top color and do one of these:

 top matches right side: U R U' R' U' F' U F

  top matches left side: U' L' U L U F U' F'
blue up blue up twist top blue up fixed side blue up fix side blue up fix done 

 > repeat for all edge pieces of second layer....

** if you can't find a top edge piece without blue in it, find
   one that is an edge piece in the middle layer and make it the 
	 front-right-middle, then do this: U R U' R' U' F' U F

 at this point you should have two layers done!
two layers done two layers done other side 


3. Solve the BLUE CROSS....

 > look at top blue layer for one of these cases:
     no small L: do F R U R' U' F' to get small L
        small L: make it top back left, do F R U R' U' F'

   the "L" you are looking for is made up out of three blue pieces,
   the center and two edge pieces
no L L 

     you should now have three in a row.
     make the 3-in-a-row go left to right across the top
three in a row 

     and again do F R U R' U' F' to get blue cross
blue cross 

 > try twisting top blue side so two edge pieces line up
   with their correct sides

     if you can't get two lined up do R U R' U R 2U R'

     if you get two lined up, and they are 
     across from each other, make the lined-up edges
     the front and back sides and do R U R' U R 2U R'
     (this should make the two lined-up sides adjacent)

     if the two lined up are adjacent, make
     them the right and back sides and do R U R' U R 2U R'
blue cross adjacent edges blue cross adjacent edges 

     should now have blue cross on top and be able to twist
     top to get all edge pieces lined up
blue cross correct blue cross correct other side 

4. solve the final 4 corners!!!

 > check the corners to see if they are in their correct
   locations (even though they may be flipped). You should
   either have 0, 1, or all 4 in their correct spots.
corner 1 correct
corner 2 incorrect corner 3 incorrect corner 4 incorrect 

    if 0: do U R U' L' U R' U' L with blue cross on top

       this should get 1 or more corners correct

    if 1: do U R U' L' U R' U' L with blue cross on top and
          correct corner as upper right of front face

       this should get 4 corners correct, but you may need
       to repeat this U R U' L' U R' U' L once

    if 4: go to next step...
corner 1 correct/flipped corner 2 correct/flipped
corner 3 correct corner 4 correct 

 > with 4 corners correct (but flipped), pick a side and make
   it the front, with a corner to flip in the top right
yellow front 

   NOTE: always keep this front side the same during the next
         few steps!!!!

	 do   R' D' R D  twice and see if that corner is flipped correctly

	 if no, do R' D' R D twice again
yellow front result 

   if yes, turn up face 90 degrees (U) and repeat with next corner (if needed), 
	 always keeping the same front face (even though it looks like you're 
   messing things up!)
yellow front done 

 NOW TWIST THE TOP AND THE CUBE IS SOLVED!!!
solved solved
yay

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Last Modified: Mon 26 Aug 2019 01:34:33 PM EDT