AL YASMIN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

P.B NO 250380, AFFILIATED TO CBSE, NEW DELHI-NO.5730011

041-MATHEMATICS
Project Report
On
RUBIK’S CUBE (ART INTEGRATION)
for the
ACADEMIC YEAR 2021-22

CLASS: XII-B
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

 GROUP MEMBERS……...……………………………..1
 BASIC INFORMATION……..………………………....2
 MECHANISM OF THE CUBE.………………………..3
 PERMUTATIONS………………………....………......4
 ALGORITHMS...…………………....……..…………..5
 RELEVANCE AND APPLICATION……..……….…..6
 SNAPSHOTS.………………….………………………..7
 PROJECT DONE BY:

 Syed Aquib Ateeq

 Fouzan Qasim
 Sufiyaan Abdul Shafi
 Muhammed Farzin Afsal
 Mohammed Omer Waheed Khan
 BASIC INFORMATION

The Rubik's Cube is a 3-D combination puzzle invented in 1974

by Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik.
Although it is widely reported that the Cube was built as a
teaching tool to help his students understand 3D objects, his
actual purpose was solving the structural problem of moving the
parts independently without the entire mechanism falling apart.
He did not realize that he had created a puzzle until the first time
he scrambled his new Cube and then tried to restore it.
Originally called the Magic Cube, the puzzle was licensed by
Rubik to be sold by Ideal Toy Corp. On the original classic
Rubik's Cube, each of the six faces was covered by nine stickers,
each of one of six solid colors: white, red, blue, orange, green,
and yellow. Although the Rubik's Cube reached its height of
mainstream popularity in the 1980s, it is still widely known and
used. Many speed-cubers continue to practice it and similar
puzzles; they also compete for the fastest times in various
categories.
MECHANISM OF THE CUBE
A standard Rubik's Cube measures 5.6 centimeters (2+1⁄4 inch)
on each side. The puzzle consists of 26 unique miniature cubes,
also known "cubies" or "cubelets". Each of these includes a
concealed inward extension that interlocks with the other cubes
while permitting them to move to different locations. However,
the center cube of each of the six faces is merely a single square
façade; all six are affixed to the core mechanism. These provide
structure for the other pieces to fit into and rotate around. Hence,
there are 21 pieces: a single core piece consisting of three
intersecting axes holding the six center squares in place but
letting them rotate, and 20 smaller plastic pieces that fit into it to
form the assembled puzzle. There are six central pieces that
show one colored face, twelve edge pieces that show two
colored faces, and eight corner pieces that show three colored
faces. Each piece shows a unique color combination, but not all
combinations are present (for example, if red and orange are on
opposite sides of the solved Cube, there is no edge piece with
both red and orange sides). The location of these cubes relative
to one another can be altered by twisting an outer third of the
Cube by increments of 90 degrees, but the location of the
colored sides relative to one another in the completed state of
the puzzle cannot be altered; it is fixed by the relative positions
of the center squares.
 PERMUTATIONS

The original (3×3×3) Rubik's Cube has eight corners and

twelve edges. There are 8! (40,320) ways to arrange the
corner cubes. Each corner has three possible orientations,
although only seven (of eight) can be oriented
independently; the orientation of the eighth (final) corner
depends on the preceding seven, giving 37 (2,187)
possibilities. There are 12!/2 (239,500,800) ways to arrange
the edges, restricted from 12! because edges must be in an
even permutation exactly when the corners are. (When
arrangements of centers are also permitted, as described
below, the rule is that the combined arrangement of
corners, edges, and centers must be an even permutation.)
Eleven edges can be flipped independently, with the flip of
the twelfth depending on the preceding ones, giving 211
(2,048) possibilities.
 ALGORITHMS
In Rubik's cubers' parlance, a memorized sequence of
moves that has a desired effect on the cube is called
an algorithm. This terminology is derived from the
mathematical use of algorithm, meaning a list of
well-defined instructions for performing a task from a
given initial state, through well-defined successive
states, to a desired end-state. Each method of solving
the Cube employs its own set of algorithms, together
with descriptions of what effect the algorithm has,
and when it can be used to bring the cube closer to
being solved.

Many algorithms are designed to transform only a

small part of the cube without interfering with other
parts that have already been solved so that they can
be applied repeatedly to different parts of the cube
until the whole is solved. For example, there are well-
known algorithms for cycling three corners without
changing the rest of the puzzle or flipping the
orientation of a pair of edges while leaving the others
intact.
Relevance and Application Of Mathematical Group Theory

Rubik's Cube lends itself to the application of

mathematical group theory, which has been helpful for
deducing certain algorithms – in particular, those which
have a commutator structure, namely XY X^−1 Y^−1
(where X and Y are specific moves or move-sequences
and X^−1 and Y^−1 are their respective inverses), or a
conjugate structure, namely XYX^−1, often referred to by
speedcubers colloquially as a "setup move". In addition,
the fact that there are well-defined subgroups within the
Rubik's Cube group enables the puzzle to be learned and
mastered by moving up through various self-contained
"levels of difficulty". For example, one such "level" could
involve solving cubes that have been scrambled using
only 180-degree turns. These subgroups are the principle
underlying the computer cubing methods by
Thistlethwaite and Kociemba, which solve the cube by
further reducing it to another subgroup.
SNAPSHOTS: