Combination Puzzles (Part 2)
(This is a continuation from part 1)
Adding one layer to the Rubik’s Revenge gives us the “Professor’s Cube”. This is also a geometric cube, but as just alluded to, with a configuration of 5x5x5. As with the Rubik’s Revenge, this cube is similar to a Rubik’s cube. You simply have to use additional algorithms to solve for the additional pieces of the puzzle. However, this cube is still not quite on the level of complexity that a puzzle cube such as a megaminx is on.
If we move in the opposite direction in complexity, we get a Pocket Cube, which has a very simple configuration of 2x2x2. This is the simplest of the cubic puzzles to solve because it only requires an algorithm for solving the corner puzzle pieces. Solving this one should be relatively easy. Extreme beginners may enjoy starting out with this one. However, it still is not exactly a walk in the park.
There is a cubic combination puzzle called a V-CUBE, which has quite a wide range as far as the piece configuration is concerned. The configuration ranges from 2x2x2 all the way to 11x11x11. The cubes for the 2x2x2 configurations up to the 8x8x8 configurations are in use at the moment. However, the patent for the 11x11x11 configuration has expired, and this version is not in production…
Then there is the tesseract version of these combination puzzles. This is the four dimensional puzzle cube. As a result of this nature, it cannot be constructed. In order to have some representation of it, a computer generation or simulation is needed. As you would imagine, this version would be a lot harder solve than the other versions of cubic puzzles. However, the techniques used to solve it are not unlike the ones used for the
other combination puzzles. The size ranges from a size of 3x3, to a much larger 5 dimension 7x7x7x7x7 (this one, by the way, has only been solved two times).
(To be continued in part 3)