Rubik's Cube/Problem Solving Strategies

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[[User:Ray Calvin Baker|Ray Calvin Baker]] 19:24, 18 August 2011 (UTC)

| HOW TO FIND YOUR VERY OWN PERSONAL WAYS TO SOLVE RUBIK'S CUBE                               |
|                                            (Preliminary April 20, 2007 version)             |
|                                            by Mr. Ray Calvin Baker                          |
|                                            FREE public Domain Educational material          |
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| Chapter One  - - - - - - - - - - Problem Solving Strategies                                 |
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| These are some generally useful ideas for solving all kinds of problems. I will try to show |
| you some of the ways I applied them to finding ways to unscramble Rubik's Cube.             |
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| OBSERVE! Any detail could provide an important clue. (But sometimes the most obvious        |
| feature of a puzzle can be deceptive. Look again and keep looking.)                         |
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| EVALUATE! Some details may be more important than others. Some details may be irrelevant.   |
| Keep evaluating what you have learned by observation, and keep trying to concentrate on the |
| important details. Remenber also that what is important may depend on what you are trying   |
| to accomplish.                                                                              |
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| TRY THINGS! If you are stuck, do something -- anything. But be prepared to observe and      |
| evaluate what happens.                                                                      |
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| TAKE NOTES! Write down your observations and thoughts. Make diagrams and pictures. I spent  |
| several hours working with pencil and paper and my computer for every few minutes of        |
| playing with the Cube. And here's why: after I make several moves with the Cube, I may      |
| forget what I did, and the result is a scrambled Cube. If I write down the moves, I can     |
| know exactly what I did. If the results were useful, I have a record which I can read and   |
| use again. Even if the results were not what I had hoped for, I may be able to undo the     |
| mistake step by step, then try again.                                                       |
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| DRAW PICTURES and DIAGRAMS! They may help you to visualize what happens as you do things to |
| your Cube. I intend to use pictures and diagrams throughout this entire writing.            |
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| PLAN and PREDICT! With a good plan firmly in mind, you will not be afraid to risk any       |
| apparent progress. Even if your predictions do not always work out as you expect, you will  |
| learn from the attempts. Keep trying!                                                       |
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| DIVIDE! Break up a big problem into smaller parts if you can see a way to do that.          |
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| SIMPLIFY THE PROBLEM. Sometimes, you can gain insight or experience by solving a simpler    |
| problem. This may also help you divide the big problem into several smaller problems.       |
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| DON'T BE AFRAID TO START OVER! Several times, I thought I had found a clever move; but it   |
| didn't work when I tried it on the Cube. I had to start over on that part of the puzzle.    |
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| TAKE A BREAK! After working and studying hard for a while, you have saturated your mind     |
| with all that you know about a problem. If you are not making any progress, sometimes it    |
| helps simply to take a break. Rest, or try doing something else. I sometimes have dreamed   |
| in my sleep about the answer to a problem. I had to check out whether the dream was         |
| correct, but often a flash of insight is just what you need to solve a problem.             |
|                                                                                             |
| CHANGE YOUR POINT OF VIEW. Consider how others might view the problem. Seek and consider    |
| other view points. Try to think about what things would be like if you actually did solve   |
| the problem. Change your perspective, in any ways that you can. Be flexible! Too many       |
| people have already said, "It can't be done!" (and been wrong!) for you to take that        |
| statement seriously.                                                                        |
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| PERSEVERE! KEEP TRYING! Remember "NED" -- Never give up! Encourage others! Do your best!    |
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| At a private Christian school, you have another option -- "If any of you lacks wisdom,      |
| let him ask God, who gives graciously, and will not scold you."                             |
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