Message #697

From: matthewsheerin <damienturtle@hotmail.co.uk>
Subject: Re: 3^4 parity problems
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:53:08 -0000

In the same way that fewest moves competitors can have attempts with different scrambles by attending several competitions, I believe that trying a few different scrambles for these 4D puzzles is fair play.

And just to clarify, I used trial and error from a certain save point I had created just before the problem with the corners which was discussed arose. I then had a situation where I could spend several days working on a 2^3 (that’s just how my solution worked) fewest moves solve to get few moves and no parity. I could also backtrack a little and solve differently to obtain a different 2^3 scramble when I was too annoyed by the one I had. It was made harder by the fact I have never practiced fewest moves solves in 3D!

It occurred to me to use an online solve program to aid this step, but I thought that would certainly be cheating and I would not be able to live with myself if I set a record in that fashion. The alternative I chose was a rather tedious week’s work …

I would be interested to find out other people’s opinions on this question though, so thanks to Melinda for bringing it up :)

Happy hypercubing
Matthew

— In 4D_Cubing@yahoogroups.com, Melinda Green <melinda@…> wrote:
>
> This brings up a question that I’ve been struggling with and have yet to
> make up my mind about which is whether it should be considered to be
> fair for people to use trial-and-error to find starting configurations
> that happen to avoid particular problems leading to shortest solutions.
> We decided that it made sense to use standard scrambles in speed solving
> but I don’t think we’ve ever addressed the problem for shortest
> solutions. Opinions?
>
> On a lighter note, here’s a video of what must be the world’s fastest
> solution of the 1x1x1:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYf1nKTr7ZQ
> 0.13 seconds! Wow!!
>
> -Melinda
>
> matthewsheerin wrote:
> >
> >
> > I certainly know how you feel, I had the same problem doing a fewest
> > moves solve on the 2^4. I could not find a very short solution for it
> > (relative to the required solve length) so I did trial and error until
> > I chanced upon a solution without the problem. If you are interested,
> > I have just created a save file with a 22 move solution (the best I
> > can manage I think) which I will now attempt to upload to the site for
> > you to find.
> >
> > I intend to try a fewest move solve on the 3^4 and 4^4 eventually,
> > after setting the records on the other two puzzles, but for now I wish
> > you good luck! :)
> >
> > Happy hypercubing,
> > Matthew
> >
> >
>