God's Number Revealed: 20 Moves Proven Enough to Solve Any Rubik's Cube Position

Tuesday, August 10, 2010 - 15:49 in Mathematics & Economics

The world has waited with bated breath for three decades, and now finally a group of academics, engineers, and math geeks has discovered the number that explains life, the universe, and everything. That number is 20, and it's the maximum number of moves it takes to solve a Rubik's Cube. Known as God's Number, the magic number required about 35 CPU-years and a good deal of man-hours to solve. Why? Because there's 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 possible positions of the cube, and the computer algorithm that finally cracked God's Algorithm had to solve them all. (The terms "God's Number/Algorithm are derived from the fact that if God was solving a Cube, he/she/it would do it in the most efficient way possible. The Creator did not endorse this study, and could not be reached for comment.) Related Articles Best Job in Science: Rubik's Cube ResearcherA Touch-Sensitive Rubik's CubeLHC Scientists Simulate the Sound of the 'God Particle'TagsScience,...

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