RUBIK'S CUBE: AN AMAZING INVENTION IN THE DISGUISE OF A SIMPLE TOY

Have you ever seen this multicolored toy? Or ever played with it? It looks like a really simple toy. But this simple toy has some great futures that can blow your mind.

It's called a Rubik's Cube. In Bangladesh, it's not so popular, but it is well-known to smart people worldwide.

Children and adults find solving the Rubik's Cube intellectually satisfying. Sometimes the satisfaction gradually develops into a passion. There are also Rubik's cube communities on the internet. 

The classic Rubik's Cube 3*3*3 has six different colors in its six faces, which are white, red, blue, orange, and green. Each side is again divided into nine parts. Now a -days, different versions of the Rubik's Cube are available in the market. There are 4*4*4,5*5*5, pyramid-shaped, circular, and many more. Some of them have catchy names also, i.e., Megaminx, Pyraminx, square-1, Professor's Cube, mirror cube, etc. It is a crystal-clear fact that the domain of the Rubik's Cube has been more creative over time.

HISTORY:

Rubik's Cube is named after its inventor Erno Rubik. He was a teacher at the Budapest Academy of Applied Arts and Crafts. At first, he used it as a teaching tool to help his students understand multidimensional objects. Later he developed it to solve the structural problem of moving parts independently without the entire mechanism falling apart.

It was first released in the Budapest toy shop in 1977. The Cube made its international debut at the toy fairs of London, Paris, Nuremberg, and New York in January and February 1980.

SOME INTERESTING FACTS:

There are 43 quintillion possible combinations of the Rubik's Cube.

The classical 3*3*3 Rubik's Cube is bounded by twelve lines at its edges and eight corners. There are 40,320 ways to rearrange the corners. It is also possible to mix the edges 239,500,800 times. If we do all the math, we will find nearly 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 possible permutations, slightly less than the earth's population. Cubes of higher dimensions have even more combinations.

A 12-year-old boy wrote the first strategy guide.

In the early 1980s, every cuber was desperate to find a strategic solution for Rubik's Cube. Finally, a 12-year-old boy named Patrick Bossert came up with algorithms and wrote a book named You Can Do the Cube in 1981, which secured its place in the New York Times bestsellers list. At first, he wrote the book for his friends, but one of his friends showed the book to his father, an editor at Penguin Books, who quickly sold more than 750,000 copies.

Inspired a version of art

As discussed earlier, we can see different versions of the Rubik's Cube in the market. Not only it has different shapes and colors, but also it is used in creating new types of art. In recent times, Rubik's Cube has started an art movement named Rubik Cubism. The fancy name refers to solving Cubes to create a mosaic effect in the artwork. In 2009, Josh Chalom a homage to Da Vinci's Last Supper by using over 4000 Cubes; a later piece, after Michaelangelo's Hand of God, took over 12,000 Cubes, measured 29-by-15 feet, and weighed a ton. Chalom bought Rubik's knock-offs from China at $1 each to take the sting out of his supply budget(webpage: Mental Floss).

COMPETITION: 

Rubik's Cube is not just a toy. It has been practiced as a sport for several decades. There are also competitions to support this sport. Speedcubing is common among players who try to solve the Cube in minimum time. The Guinness Book of World Records organized the first speedcubing championship on 13th March 1981 in Munich. The winner was Ronald Brickman, who solved the Cube in 38.0 seconds. The current world record for speedcubing is 3.47 seconds. The World Cube Association (WCA) also holds events where Rubik's Cube is solved in different ways, i.e., blindfold solving, multiple blindfolds solving, one-hand solving, and solving the Cube in the fewest possible moves. 

LEARNING:

If one wants to learn how to solve Rubik's Cube, there are different platforms to learn proficiently. Youtube, Facebook, Reddit, etc. social media have many communities dedicated to learning the cube. GoCube, Redkb, TheMaoiSha, Cuby, MeMyselfAndPi, Crazybadcuber, KaiXevandStanley, and Fazrulz1 are only a few examples. There are also books available- Cube, David Signmaster; Speedsolving: The Rubik's Cube solution book for kids, David Goldman; The simple solution to Rubik's Cube, James G Nourse are some of the most famous books.

CONCLUSION:

Rubik's Cube enhances cognitive power, improves memory and intelligence, develops problem-solving skills, boosts reflexes, and creates confidence. When someone tries to solve the Cube on their own, they consistently challenge themselves and their brain, which in turn helps them to improve intellectually. Also, to be a good cuber, one needs to visualize and memorize special patterns; thus, pattern recognition skill also develops. It creates a great impact on IQ. It is the perfect toy for children to flourish. So, we should promote cubing in our country by motivating children and students through organizing competitions and advertisements.

References:

(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubik%27s_Cube  

(2) https://www.ipassio.com/blog/rubiks-cube-benefits

(3) https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/85429/15-twisted-facts-about-rubiks-cube