Elements of the Cube and Notation

A Rubik's Cube is made up of 20 different pieces, including 6 centers which are joined together in one structure. There are three different types of pieces on a Rubik's Cube: centers, edges, and corners. Each of these pieces helps make up a face, or one side of the cube. (For example, the orange face, the yellow face)

Centers

Centers cannot move, they can only rotate. For this reason they stay in the same position relative to each other. It's pretty easy to find where the center is on a face, it's the one in the middle. I guess you could think of it as an axis of the cube. Since there are six faces on a cube, there are also six centers. To get a better idea of how the centers are related to each other, here's a picture of the internal structure of the cube.

Edges

There are twelve edge pieces on a Rubik's Cube. Each edge has two sides and can only occpy a space in which there are spaces for two sides available. In other words, an edge piece cannot be in a corner piece's spot and vice versa. Go ahead and try this out on your cube if you don't understand it fully. Here's a picture of an edge piece:

Note that only two sides have stickers on them.

Corners

There are 8 corner pieces on a Rubik's Cube. Each corner has three sides and can only occupy a space in which a piece with three sides can be. ( a corner space) Here's a picture of a corner piece:

Notation

Notation is the key to understanding algorithms, which are patterns of moves you perform on the cube in order to do something to a piece or group of pieces. An algorithm repeated a certain number of times will put the cube back in its original state. Standard notation for the Rubik's Cube is given in letters, with each letter corresponding to a specific face on the cube. Here are the letters for each face of the cube:

U stands for the Upper (Top) face D stands for the down (bottom) face

L stands for the Left face R stands for the Right face

F stands for the Front face B stands for the Back face

Important note: any letter followed by a ' symbol means "prime". This is used to show that a part of the cube is twisted in a counter clockwise direction. Ex. U' means to turn the top face counter clockwise once.

The upper face is opposite the down face, the left face is opposite the right face, and the front face is opposite the back face.

In an algorithm, the use of a single letter (in this method only uppercase letters will be used, since lower case letters mean something else that does not pertain to this method) indicates that one-quarter turn should be performed for that particular face. For example, the letter U means to turn the upper face one time clockwise. Likewise, the letter R means to turn the right face clockwise, or away from you (assuming that the front face is in front of you). IF the letter U is followed by the number 2, such as U2 (lol the band) than it means to turn that face twice instead of one time (a half turn). It does not matter in this case if the move is prime or not because the face that you turned will end up at the same place, since turning a face four times consecutively (a full turn) will return that face to its original position.

Your can look at the cube as having three different layers. In the following method, solving the cube consists of solving the first layer - orienting (flipping) and permuting (moving around) edges and corners. You'll understand what I mean by the different descriptions of the breakdowns of the layers later.

Putting It Together

An algorithm is read from left to right just like words in the English language.

Here is an example algorithm: R'UR'F2

In words, this means 1) turn the right face counter clockwise 2) turn the upper face clockwise 3) turn the right face counter clockwise 4) turn the front face twice

The Method - First Layer

Well, now that you know all of the basic aspects of the cube, you're now ready to solve it!

The Cross

The first step to solving the Rubik's Cube in this method is creating a cross on the top face of the cube. For easier recognition you will use the white face as the face you will make the cross on. You can find where the white face is on the cube by finding the white center. Remember that the center cannot change its position, so this is where the white face of the cube is going to be. The cross consists of the center of the face, and the face's four edges. Since the center face is your reference point it is already in place. Then you need to put the edges next to them. Here is what a completed cross will look like:

For this and all of the following diagrams, the gray squares represent cubies (a corner, edge, or center piece) that are irrelevant for this step.

There aren't really any formal algorithms for this step, since it's kind of intuitive. So, you just need to place the four edges while making sure that each of the two stickers on each edge matches with the color of the center next to it, as shown in the diagram.

If you get stuck on this part, here are some tips:

If the edge you want to place is on the bottom layer (the group of corners and edges at the bottom of the cube) move the bottom layer so that the edge is right underneath its corresponding center (not the color white). If the colors of the edge and the center match, perform R2 and one of the edges will be placed correctly.

If the edge is on the bottom layer but it is oriented incorrectly (flipped), put the edge piece underneath its corresponding center, and then perform DBR'B'[1]

The Corners

Alright, now you need to find the corners that fit in the four slots left in the top layer. There are three different cases as described below. You may need to move the bottom layer a few times in order to line up the corner properly. If the corner you need to place is in the top layer, but is incorrectly rotated or in the wrong place, perform the first of second algorithm to put it into the bottom layer. You will then be able to use one of the three algorithms to put it correctly in place.

Case 1:

Case 2:

Case 3:

When you've place all four corners correctly your cube should look like this:

Congratulations, you've now completed the first layer. In order to prepare for the second layer, turn the cube upside down, so that the completed white face is on the bottom.

Keep in mind that D means a turn in the same direction as U' and B means a turn in the same direction as F'. (I didn't understand the notation for the B and D faces for the longest time.)

Second Layer

The Second Layer Edges

There are four edges you need to place in their correct positions. The algorithms are longer than the ones for the first layer, but there are only two of them (I added a third, more advanced one for a special case). These algorithms will put the edges in place without messing up the first layer (which has now become the bottom layer). If an edge is in a slot but is in the wrong slot or is incorrectly oriented just perform one of these algorithms to move it to the U face. You can then correctly use the following algorithms to put those edges in place.

Case 1:

Case 2:

Case 3:

There is a possibility that an edge will be stuck in a slot it's not supposed to. Just do Case 1 or 2 to get it back out into the top layer, and then you can put it where it belongs.

Third Layer

The Last Layer: Orienting Edges

Now take a look at your cube, on the top layer. Look at the edges. Don't worry if the corners are flipped a certain way, we'll worry about that later. The idea here is to get all of the edges facing up, kind of like the cross you did earlier. Your cube will be one of the following three cases. Use the algorithms to make all of the edges in the last layer face up. For case 3, you will need to perform the algorithm and then execute the algorithm for case 1.

Case 1:

Case 2:

Case 3:

After you've done this, the cube should look like this:

Now you need to permute the edges, which basically means moving them to their proper places while keeping their orientation the same (so they stay yellow on top). In order to do this, use the following two algorithms. In some cases you will need to use both algorithms to permute all four edges correctly.

Case 1: Case 2:

There are only two other possibilities for this step, one is that all edges are already in the right place. The other is that two are correctly placed, but they are opposite each other, unlike the corresponding edges in Case 2 that are adjacent. In this situation just do Case 1, and that will give you Case 2. Or, if you prefer, do Case 2 first, and then you will be able to do Case 1. Whatever you want.

The cube will look like this when you're done:

Permuting the Corners

Now the four corners in the last layer need to be put in their proper positions without disturbing the last layer edges or the first two layers of the cube. Look for a corner that's in the right place. Don't worry about how it's rotated -- that's solved in the last step. If there is a corner in place perform the following algorithm once or twice to put all of the corners in their proper positions. If all of the corners are in the wrong place, perform the algorithm once to fix one corner. The algorithm rotates three corners clockwise.

Orienting the Corners

You've made it to the last step! Now all that you have to do is rotate the corners so that the cube is solved. The following algorithm will rotate two corners in opposite directions without changing anything else on the cube. In some cases, you will need to use this algorithm once, others twice, or possibly three times. This is the longest algorithm in the method, so practice this one a lot.

Important Note: The algorithm pictured is incorrect. The actual algorithm is: (LUL'U)LU2L'(R'U'RU')R'U2R

Remember when performing this algorithm multiple times to turn the cube so that you can perform the algorithm on the different corners that need to be rotated.

Well, that's it! Congratulations, you've solved a Rubik's Cube! If you practice this method and know how to do the algorithms by heart, you'll be able to do the cube without referencing back to the algorithms written here.

Once you've mastered this method and would like to learn a different one that is more advanced, I would suggest the Fridrich method, which can bring you down to times of around 25 seconds, and even less with much practice and finger tricks, etc. Anyway I hope this guide was helpful and taught you a few things. Happy cubing!