Rubik’s Cube can be Solved in 20 Moves or Less

I love to game, and I love games that have puzzle elements to them. But when it comes to a real puzzle, I realize just how un-smart I am (see what I did there?). Whether it be crosswords, sudoku, or the Rubik’s Cube, I’m normally left clueless. Well, at least where the latter is concerned, I can feel a bit of comfort in knowing that all combinations can be solved in 20 moves or less. Maybe.

It’s a simple “toy” and mind-boggling mathematical problem all in one. It’s been puzzling people for ages, and over the course of the past thirty years, many have been working hard to figure out the best possible way to solve deceptive puzzle. For me, solving it comes down to luck, but for pros, there is a technique to solving it fast, and in as few moves as possible.

But, even the world’s best speedcubers take more than 20 moves in order to solve the puzzle, so how is it that these researchers came up with that figure? With computers, of course. Super computers to be exact, with the help of Google. It took a long time to compute, but in the end, it was established that 20 moves is the most it takes to solve absolutely any combination. Of the 43 billion billion possible combinations, most can be solved in under 20 moves.

The same researchers are considering moving up to a 4×4 design and gathering figures for that. I’m not quite sure of the point, but I’d assume that super computers could surely be dedicated to something a little more important. Plus, I’m sure I know the fastest and most sure-fire way to solve one. Just move the stickers around! I got really good at that when I was younger.

The computers were used to crank through as many combinations as possible. However, some still “slipped through the cracks” and required slower desktop software to solve. As the exercise went on, he said, the probability of there being a combination which required more than 20 moves to solve “dropped into the very low digits”. At the end of the exercise, Prof Davidson and his team said they were convinced the problem had been cracked and that God’s number for the Rubik’s Cube was 20.