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Encyclopedia > Rubik's Revenge
Rubik's Revenge in solved state

The Rubik's Revenge is the 4×4×4 version of Rubik's Cube. Invented by Péter Sebestény, the Rubik's Revenge was nearly called the Sebestény Cube until a somewhat last-minute decision changed the puzzle's name to attract fans of the original Rubik's Cube. Unlike the original puzzle, it has no fixed facets: the centre facets (four per face) are free to move to different positions. The internal mechanics are rather different: the centre cubelets slide in grooves on an internal ball, which cannot be seen unless the puzzle is disassembled. The edge and corner cubelets glide on tracks formed by the edges of the centre cubelets in much the same way as in the 3×3×3 version. A new mechanism was introduced by the East Sheen company, where the mechanism is an expansion of that of the 3×3×3. Image File history File links This is my Rubiks Revenge in solved state. ... Image File history File links This is my Rubiks Revenge in solved state. ... Variations of Rubiks Cubes (from left to right: Rubiks Revenge, Rubiks Cube, Professors Cube, & Pocket Cube) Rubiks Cube (commonly misspelled rubix, rubicks or rubics cube) is a mechanical puzzle invented in 1974[1] by the Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture ErnÅ‘ Rubik. ...


Methods for solving the 3×3×3 cube work for the edges and corners of the 4×4×4 cube, as long as one has correctly identified the relative positions of the colours — since the centre facets can no longer be used for identification.

Contents

Workings

Rubik's Revenge in scrambled state

The puzzle consists of the fifty-six unique miniature cubes ("cubies") on the surface. However, the center four cubes of each face are merely single square facade hooked in to a grooved ball. These provide structure for the other pieces to fit into and rotate around. The core piece is a ball with a groove on each of the three intersecting orbits that holds the four pieces in each of the six centres while letting them rotate. This is the largest change to the 3×3×3 cube, because the centre pieces can move in relative to each other, unlike the fixed centres on the original. The Cube can be taken apart without much difficulty, typically by turning one side through a 45° angle and prying an "edge cubie" away from the "centre cubies" until it dislodges. It is a simple process to solve a Cube by taking it apart and reassembling it in a solved state; however, this is not the challenge. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (622x622, 70 KB)This is my Rubiks Revenge. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (622x622, 70 KB)This is my Rubiks Revenge. ...


There are twenty-four edge pieces which show two coloured sides each, and eight corner pieces which show three colours. Each piece (or pair of edge pieces) shows a unique colour combination, but not all combinations are present (for example, there is no edge piece with both white and yellow sides, if white and yellow are on opposite sides of the solved Cube). The location of these cubes relative to one another can be altered by twisting an outer fourth of the Cube 90°, 180° or 270°, but the location of the coloured sides relative to one another in the completed state of the puzzle cannot be altered: it is fixed by the relative positions of the centre squares and the distribution of colour combinations on edge and corner pieces.


For most recent Cubes, the colours of the stickers are red opposite orange, yellow opposite white, and green opposite blue. However, there also exist Cubes with alternative colour arrangements. These alternative Cubes have the yellow face opposite the green, and the blue face opposite the white (with red and orange opposite faces remaining unchanged).


Permutations

Rubik's Revenge with a tilted side

There are 8 corner cubelets, 24 edge cubelets and 24 centre cubelets. Image File history File links This is my Rubiks Revenge with a tilted side. ... Image File history File links This is my Rubiks Revenge with a tilted side. ...


Any permutation of the corner cubelets is possible, including odd permutations, giving 8! possible arrangements. Seven of the corner cubelets can be independently rotated, and the eighth cubelet's orientation depends on the other seven, giving 37 combinations. For factorial rings in mathematics, see unique factorisation domain. ...


Assuming the 4 centre cubelets of each colour are indistinguishable, there are 24!/(4!6) arrangements, all of which are possible, independently of the corner cubelets. (An odd permutation of the corner cubelets implies an odd permutation of the centre cubelets, and vice versa; however, even and odd permutations are indistinguishable because of identically coloured centre cubelets.)


The 24 edge cubelets cannot be flipped. The two edge cubelets in each matching pair are distinguishable, since the colours on a cubelet are reversed relative to the other. Any permutation of the edge cubelets is possible, including odd permutations, giving 24! arrangements, independently of the corner or centre cubelets.


Assuming the cube does not have a fixed orientation in space, and that the permutations resulting from rotating the cube without twisting the cube are considered identical, the number of permutations is reduced by a factor of 24.


This gives a total number of permutations of

frac{8! cdot 3^7 cdot 24! cdot 24!}{4!^6 cdot 24} approx 7.4 cdot 10^{45}

The full number is 7,401,196,841,564,901,869,874,093,974,498,574,336,000,000,000 possible permutations.


Solutions

There are a number of methods that can be used to solve a Rubik's Revenge. The layer by layer method that is often used for the 3×3×3 cube is usually used on the Rubik's Revenge. One of the most common methods is to first group the center pieces of common colors together, then to pair edges that show the same two colors. Once this is done, turning only the outer layers of the cube allows it to be solved as the 3×3×3 cube would be solved. However, certain positions that cannot be solved on a standard 3×3×3 cube may be reached. For instance, a single pair of edges may be inverted, or the cube may appear to have odd permutation (that is, two pieces must be swapped, which is not possible on the 3×3×3 cube). These situations are known as parity errors. These positions are still solvable; however, special sequences must be applied to fix the errors. Permutation is the rearrangement of objects or symbols into distinguishable sequences. ... Look up Parity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Parity is a concept of equality of status or functional equivalence. ...


Another similar approach to solving this cube is to first pair the edges, and then the centers. This, too, is vulnerable to the parity errors described above.


Some methods are designed to avoid the parity errors described above. For instance, solving the corners and edges first and the centers last would avoid such parity errors.


Records

The current world record for solving the Rubik's Revenge in an official competition is 51.16 seconds, set by Michael Fung at the Dutch Open 2006. Fung also set the record for the fastest average of 5 solves, with a time of 59.21 seconds. Chris Hardwick holds the world record for solving the Rubik's Revenge while blindfolded, with a time of 8:04.90 set at the G.WIZ Fall 2006 competition in Sarasota, Florida. [1] It is proposed that this article be deleted, because of the following concern: Absolutely no evidence of notability If you can address this concern by improving, copyediting, sourcing, renaming or merging the page, please edit this page and do so. ...


See also

Solved Pocket Cube Scrambled Pocket Cube Pocket Cube with one side tilted The Pocket Cube is the 2×2×2 equivalent of a Rubiks cube. ... Variations of Rubiks Cubes (from left to right: Rubiks Revenge, Rubiks Cube, Professors Cube, & Pocket Cube) Rubiks Cube (commonly misspelled rubix, rubicks or rubics cube) is a mechanical puzzle invented in 1974[1] by the Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik. ... The Professors Cube (also known as Rubiks Professor) is a mechanical puzzle invented by Udo Krell. ...

External links

  • Beginner/Intermediate solution to the Rubik's Revenge by Chris Hardwick
  • Rubik's Revenge Solution good pictures, pair the edges, and then the centers solution.
  • A Solution to Rubik's Revenge by Jonathan Bowen
  • Patterns A collection of pretty patterns for Rubik's Revenge
  • Brief history of Erno Rubik's famous cube
  • Program Rubik's Cube 3D Unlimited size

  Results from FactBites:
 
Rubiks kub - Wikipedia, den fria encyklopedin (347 words)
Rubiks kub är ett 3-dimensionellt mekaniskt pussel som brukar krediteras den ungerska skulptören och arkitekten Ernő Rubik 1974.
Utöver Rubiks kub, som har 3x3x3-rutor, finns det även en del andra Rubiks-produkter med såväl fler som färre rutor.
Speedcubing.com - tävling att lösa Rubiks kub på tid.
www.Brettspielecke.de - R (273 words)
Der Rubik's Revenge läutet eine neue Dimension für den Klassiker aus den 80er Jahren ein.
Es gibt Millionen mehr Lösungsmöglichkeiten als beim Rubik's Cube.
Rubik's World ist ein originelles Accessoire für zwischendurch und für jeden Schreibtisch.
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