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It's amazing how prevalent the Rubik's Cube was for a while back in the 80s-90s despite the fact that the vast majority of them just ended up sitting on shelves

It's amazing how prevalent the Rubik's Cube was for a while back in the 80s-90s despite the fact that the vast majority of them just ended up sitting on shelves. Statistically only 1 out of every 20 Rubik's Cube owners can actually solve the puzzle[0] that took Rubik himself an entire month to solve. [0]https://www.ontheclock.com/Blog/Business-is-like-a-Rubiks-Cube.aspx https://www.ontheclock.com/Blog/Business-is-like-a-Rubiks-Cu...

segfaultbuserr 6y ago
> how prevalent the Rubik's Cube was for a while back in the 80s-90s TIL the Rubik's Cube was a new invention and it didn't exist until the late 1970s. A big age revealer, I guess...
ndand 6y ago
> that took Rubik himself an entire month to solve I'm not sure you what you mean by this, but Rubik discovered an algorithm to solve the cube, he didn't follow instructions like what the 1 out 20 of cube owners do. It'd be interesting to know the percentage of the people that have discovered an algorithm by themselves to solve the cube.
- fastball 6y ago
  What is the difference between instructions and an algorithm in this case?
  - danielbarla 6y ago
    I guess the parent poster means that Rubik did not have an existing solution to follow, and his one month meant solving it without any external assistance. (I'm not sure how his invention process went exactly, but I would guess that he probably did not start with a physical device he could hold, so I'm not sure such comparisons are really meaningful. It may have been easier for him to solve, due to inside knowledge, or it may have been harder.)
    - ndand 6y ago
      Yes, that's what I meant.
  - ndand 6y ago
    It's the same thing. I just used a different word.
  - pezezin 6y ago
    In the cube solving world, movement sequences that arrange the cube in a specific way are called "algorithms". Each "algorithm" will solve part of the cube, the full solution being a sequence of "algorithms".

segfaultbuserr 6y ago

> how prevalent the Rubik's Cube was for a while back in the 80s-90s TIL the Rubik's Cube was a new invention and it didn't exist until the late 1970s. A big age revealer, I guess...

ndand 6y ago

> that took Rubik himself an entire month to solve I'm not sure you what you mean by this, but Rubik discovered an algorithm to solve the cube, he didn't follow instructions like what the 1 out 20 of cube owners do. It'd be interesting to know the percentage of the people that have discovered an algorithm by themselves to solve the cube.

fastball 6y ago
What is the difference between instructions and an algorithm in this case?
- danielbarla 6y ago
  I guess the parent poster means that Rubik did not have an existing solution to follow, and his one month meant solving it without any external assistance. (I'm not sure how his invention process went exactly, but I would guess that he probably did not start with a physical device he could hold, so I'm not sure such comparisons are really meaningful. It may have been easier for him to solve, due to inside knowledge, or it may have been harder.)
  - ndand 6y ago
    Yes, that's what I meant.
- ndand 6y ago
  It's the same thing. I just used a different word.
- pezezin 6y ago
  In the cube solving world, movement sequences that arrange the cube in a specific way are called "algorithms". Each "algorithm" will solve part of the cube, the full solution being a sequence of "algorithms".