Does anyone here know how to solve Rubik’s cube? If so, when and why did you learn it?
I’ve been trying all my life, on and off, not enough to succeed in anything more than one layer, but more than enough to feel i should have mastered it by now.
My 11yo son, on the other hand, taught himself through a book and some YouTube clips and he is now disappointed whenever he solves it in less than 30 seconds.
He’s the only one i know who can solve it (apart from his best friend, that is), and every time he does, i feel like I’m watching magic. Chaos chaos chaos chaos … oh it’s finished!
Should i be proud of him or worried by own cognitive abilities?
I was like you. Rubik’s looked like magic ever since I had one as a kid. So, as an adult, I hit Google, then I went to cubeskills.com, paid them $10, watched their videos and read their PDFs, and learned “the beginner method.”
It took me about a week (I have a family and a job, so).
I can solve now in under a minute most of the time, and that’s good enough for me.
So, “solving” a Rubik’s is just a matter of memorizing a set of algorithms (move patterns). That’s it.
Now, figuring out how to solve a Rubik’s cube from scratch, by determining what those move algorithms are through months of trial-and-error, that would be quite the feat! That’s what you attempted to do. I did not do that, nor did most people. We ain’t got the time or patience for that.
Anyway, if you haven’t already, get your kid a nice Gan cube (the one with magnets). Well worth the money. If he sticks with it, he might hit sub-15 or sub-10.
Yes, just got a magnet one. He was over the moon. He is one of those kids who has a hard time with everything boring, like brushing his teeth or cleaning his room, but can lose himself for hours on end in the most impossible tasks when he has the drive. At the moment, his mania is the cube. So a magnet cube is indeed very much worth it.
FYI that sounds like ADHD to me. Not something to act on unless it becomes a problem, but I wish my parents would have recognized it when I was struggling.
Yes, we have a slight suspicion and are on the case. It’s challenging when you are very much not adhd, WHY CAN’T HE JUST DO THIS IT’S SO EASY, but my job is to understand and help, not force my way of thinking unto his. Thanks for corroborating my hunch, though.