Message #3403

From: Melinda Green <melinda@superliminal.com>
Subject: Re: [MC4D] Introductions!
Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2016 03:30:50 -0700

Well, welcome to both of you and to all of the recent solvers here due
to the Mathologer’s video <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhPH1369OWc>.
It’s fine to lurk all you like but please do introduce yourself if you
can muster the courage. I know that it can be intimidating in a group of
such obviously smart people, but you wouldn’t be here if you did not
belong. You’re in the HOF and you also have the Mathologer’s Seal of
Approval so don’t sell yourselves short!

I do need to correct you slightly. We’ve actually been averaging about
15 first solutions a year for a while, not 6. But you’re right that
we’ve had a big jump recently thanks to Burkard. Maybe 20 new entries in
a little over a week, and I’m guessing that we’ll see at least that many
more in the weeks to come, if not several times that many. The funny
thing is that a lot of the people say the same things in their
submission emails. One common thing is a confession that they had
already looked at the puzzle years prior but came across it again and
decided to give it a try. I think what was missing was a good way to get
out the message or the proof that if you can solve the 3D puzzle, then
it really should not be very difficult to solve this one. It certainly
takes work–no question about that–but it’s usually not nearly as hard
as people assume. So I hope that everyone will share the link with their
friends and social networks so that even more potential hyper-puzzlers
will face their fears and succeed.

-Melinda

On 6/27/2016 9:09 PM, Ashton Santee ashtonsantee@gmail.com [4D_Cubing]
wrote:
>
>
> Just as Chandler introduced himself I figured we could use this email
> thread for further introductions.
>
> My name is Ashton I hail from California USA. My education includes
> Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Nevada Reno,
> and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of
> Colorado, Denver. I love using the problem solving of computer science
> to solve business questions. I had seen the 3^4 online a few years
> ago, but had thought it would be beyond my level of solving. That was
> until I saw Mathologer’s videos breaking down how to solve any twisty
> puzzle.
>
> I am glad to see that there are about 3 people finishing the 4D cube
> puzzle every day now, compared to the previous average of 6 per year.
> I want to encourage those who have just finished and are sitting
> quietly in this group to use this email thread to introduce
> themselves. Groups like this can be great for networking. You can find
> me on LinkedIn. If anyone has questions about business math I am
> always looking for a question to research and help others when I can.
>
> https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashtonsantee
> On Sat, Jun 25, 2016, 10:22 PM Chandler Meyers chandlerm2016@yahoo.com
> <mailto:chandlerm2016@yahoo.com> [4D_Cubing]
> <4D_Cubing@yahoogroups.com <mailto:4D_Cubing@yahoogroups.com>> wrote:
>
> I recently finished the 3x3x3x3 and was invited to introduce
> myself here. I live in Michigan in the USA and I am 18 years old.
> I will be attending the University of Michigan this fall. For fun,
> I have enjoyed twisty puzzles for years, though it is now a
> secondary hobby to speedrunning video games. I remember seeing the
> MC4D program years back and never thinking I would be able to do
> it, but after watching Mathologer’s video I realized that it
> wasn’t so bad if I just applied the same algorithms and
> commutators that worked on a 3x3x3 puzzle. Once I got started, it
> was a fun and relatively smooth journey to solving the puzzle.
> Thanks to him for the inspiration and of course to everyone who
> has contributed to making such an awesome program :)
>
> –
> Ashton Santee
> 916-7766-775
>
>
>