Harlan Chernoff 

The Rubik’s Cube 

English 202C

October 23, 2012

 

Figure 1: Rubik's Cube 

Figure 2: The first working prototype of the

Rubik’s Cube 

Audience and Purpose

The purpose of this technical document is to inform its audience about a Rubik’s Cube. The

document will focus specifically on the original three-by-three Rubik’s Cube. (There are Rubik's

Cubes with other sizes, such as the four-by-four “Rubik’s Revenge Cube” and the five-by-five

“Rubik’s Professor’s Cube.”) After reading this document, the audience will know the history of 

the Rubik’s Cube, will be able to visualize the parts of the Rubik’s Cube, and will understand

how the Rubik’s Cube works. The document is intended for an audience that includes people

who are interested in puzzles and who have a basic understanding of high-school geometry.

The document could appear in a magazine, on an educational website, or even in a book about

famous puzzles or toys.

Introduction

A Rubik’s Cube is a three-dimensional puzzle cube.

Each of the six faces of the cube is divided into nine

separated sections in a three-by-three grid. These

sections are colored, typically with stickers, and each

of the faces of the cube is a different color. The

traditionally used colors are white, yellow, red,

orange, green, and blue. A swivel mechanism enables

each section of the cube to rotate and thus mix up

the colors on the different faces. As shown in Figure

1, the puzzle is “solved” when all nine sections on

each face are the same color. 

Background and History of the Rubik’s Cube 

The inventor of the Rubik’s Cube, Ernö Rubik, was born in

Budapest, Hungary, in 1944. Rubik invented the Rubik’s

Cube (Figure 2) in 1974 when he was a professor of 

architecture at the Academy of Applied Arts and Design in

Budapest. When he invented the Rubik's Cube, he did not

have the intention creating a puzzle. His main purpose

was academic, that is, to investigate the structural

concept of independently moving parts in a mechanism

 

3

21

Figure 4 (left) shows all of the

components of the Rubik’s Cube. 

1. Twelve side-edge pieces

2. Eight corner pieces

3. Core three-dimensional cross

piece on which the centers of 

the faces rotate

Figure 4: The twenty one pieces of a Rubik's Cube 

that stayed fully intact. He himself did not realize the

potential of the Cube being a puzzle until he had

difficulty storing his model to its original status after he

had scrambled the arrangement by moving the parts.

The Cube was patented in Hungary 1975 as the “Magic

Cube,” and it was sold successfully in Hungary. In 1980,

the Magic Cube was renamed to the Rubik’s Cube, and it

was sold internationally to become one of the most

successful toys ever produced. More than 350 million

Rubik's Cubes have been sold. Figure 3 shows the Rubik’s

Cube and its packaging as it was first sold in the United

States.

The popularity of the Rubik's Cube is partially derived from its reputation for difficulty. The

Cube presents a nearly impossible challenge to people who attempt to solve it with random

movements. The ability to solve a Rubik's Cube became a symbol of intelligence that borders

on genius. Recently, in the 2006 movie, The Pursuit of Happyness starring Will Smith, the main

character gains access to a prospective employer by solving the Rubik’s Cube.

Specifications and Functionality

Although the concept of the Rubik’s Cube may seem very simple, the design of the Cube is

actually quite complex. The original three-by-three design of the Rubik’s Cube features six

central pieces (with one exposed face), eight corners (with three exposed faces) and twelve

side-edge pieces (with two exposed faces).

Figure 3: Packaging of the Rubik's Cube (1980) 

 

Figure 6: Assembling the pieces of a

Rubik's Cube 

There are eight-factorial ways to arrange the corners and three ways to orient each corner.

There are twelve-factorial ways to arrange the side pieces. The number of possible

arrangements the Rubik's Cube is in the quintillions: 43,252,003,274,489,856,000. Another

way of describing these possibilities is there is only one correct or solved arrangement, and

there are 43,252,003,274,489,855,999 incorrect arrangements. Because of the scale of these

numbers, random solutions are virtually nonexistent, and a person who is able to deduce

helpful algorithms to solve the Cube acquires the mystique of genius.

Figure 5 (left) shows that the Rubik’s Cube has

dimensions of 5.7 centimeters on each side. The

Rubik’s Cube consists of a total of twenty-one parts.

There are eight corner pieces, twelve side-edge

pieces, and the core swivel mechanism. The core

swivel mechanism is the most complex piece. Most

of the materials used in the production of the

Rubik’s Cube are thermoplastics. The typical

production of a Rubik’s Cube is a step-by-step

process that involves injection molding of the

individual pieces, assembly of all the pieces, and

labeling the faces with their respective colors (Figure

6, below).

Conclusion

The surface of the Rubik's Cube has the form or surface

appearance of a cube, but the actual components used to

assemble the Rubik's Cube reveal a very sophisticated

conception. In function as well, the apparent simplicity of 

the task of solving the puzzle contrasts with the extremely

large number of permutations of the possible

arrangements. This combination if simplicity and

complexity is part of the appeal of the Rubik's Cube.

5.7cm

5.7cm

5.7cm

Figure 5: Dimensions of the Rubik's Cube 

 

References

http://web.mit.edu/sp.268/www/rubik.pdf  

http://www.rubiks.com/world/history.php 

http://www.puzzlesolver.com/puzzle.php?id=29;page=15 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/soheilk/4438771159/ 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1980-Rubik%27s-Cube.jpg 

http://www.madehow.com/Volume-7/Rubik-s-Cube.html 

http://math.williams.edu/rubiks-cube-turns-30/ 

http://www.math.cornell.edu/~mec/Winter2009/Lipa/Puzzles/lesson2.html