🚀 go-pugleaf

John Bailey <jmb184@frontiernet.net> wrote in message
news:3889ab01.487646@news.frontiernet.net...
> On Fri, 21 Jan 2000 23:39:24 GMT, "Androcles" <androcles@home.com>
> wrote:
>
> >There is a well-known little puzzle known as the "Knight's Tour".
> >The object of the puzzle is to have the (chess) knight visit all 64
squares
> >on the chessboard
> (snip)
> >Suppose we have Rubik's cube, and suggest a tour such that all possible
> >outcomes of the various configurations are presented. We begin with the
> >identity.
> >Question  three, analogous to the knight's tour.
> >How many configurations are there, each to be visited once and once only?
> >Question four.
> >Is this possible?
> >Question five:
> >How many moves does it take to return to the identity?
>
> There may be other ways to interpret *tour* in the context of a Rubik
> cube but this one is a lot of fun.
>
> Using a Rubiks cube simulator with macro capability such as
> http://www.mud.ca/cube/cube.html
> enter a sequence of moves.
> How many repetitions of these identical moves will return the cube to
> its original state?
> What sequence  requires the most repetitions to restore?
John, that's quite a good simulator, but it didn't work in quite the way I
expected. I can rotate the entire cube using the right mouse button, but I
don't seem to be able to drag a slice as per the instructions. When I use
the keyboard, only the middle slice turns. What am I doing wrong?
I also note that the operation u1d1 returns the identity, as expected,
the operation u1u3 returns the identity, as expected, and u3 = d1,
but u1u1u1u1d1d1d1d1, while correctly returning the identity, actually goes
through the moves, whereas u1u3d1d3 does not.
Since u3 = d1, and u2=d2, the use of "d" becomes redundant.
While I applaud the programmer for his effort, I find this simulator rather
difficult to create a tour.
Androcles