Handbook of Cubik Mathematics - Softcover

Singmaster, David; Frey Jr., Alexander H.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0894900587 ISBN 13: 9780894900587

Publisher: Enslow Publishers, 1982

Synopsis

Thousand of persons now are able to solve Rubik's Cube, but the solution manuals they have been using do not give them a comprehension of what they have been doing. This book supplies such a comprehension. The handbook proceeds from topics easily understandable to the layman, to topics suitable for a junior-high-school or high-school course in math, and on to subjects appropriate for a college course in modern algebra. Chapter Tree is a solution manual for those who do not yet know how to solve the cube. This solution is an intuitive one that does not require memorisation of the formulas. It may be among the fastest solutions published, since the authors retain an open 'working space' to avoid having only a restricted area for the last pieces to move in. Movements of the cube exemplify a fascinating but abstract field of mathematics known as group theory. Manipulation of the cube makes the hard-to-understand ideas of this field concrete and understandable in the manner of no other device yet invented.

About this title

Review

"Frey and Singmaster give a nicely blended discussion of specific algorithms for the cube together with some underlying theoretical concepts from group theory. Thus, cubists will be able to cure their insomnia by reading chapter 3, and then perhaps satisfy their aroused curiosity about what is really going on by reading further" David M. Goldschmidt, Professor of Mathematics, University of California, Berkeley

About the Author

David Singmaster is the top world authority on the mathematics of Rubik's Cube. He originated the notion system that is used throughout the world to communicate about the cube. An American by birth and citizenship, with a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley, he is a Lecturer in Mathematical Sciences and Computing, South Bank University, London, England. His earlier book, Notes on Rubik's Magic Cube, is described by Scientific American as the "definitive treatise" on the subject. Alexander H. Frey, Jr. has a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Washington and is a computer architect with IBM in the Washington D.C. area.

Edition details

• Publisher: Enslow Publishers
• Publication date: 1982
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0894900587
• ISBN 13: 9780894900587
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 204