• Professor Puzzle Solutions; need help solving one of our metal or wooden puzzles? Find the solutions to those tricky conundrums here!
• The Professor's Cube is a 5x5x5 verion of the original Rubik's Cube.The first version of this puzzle was invented in 1986 by Udo Krell, who took a 3x3x3 cube and expanded it. As with the Rubik's Revenge (4x4x4), the most common algorithm for solving this 5x5x5 cube is called the 'reduction' method.Focusing on solving the 3x3 center pieces.

THE ULTIMATE SOLUTION TO THEPROFESSOR CUBE

The classic 3x3 Rubik’s Cube features six colors and can be twisted in any direction to solve (or scramble) the puzzle. The six center cubes always stay in the same place, while the edges and corners can be shifted around the cube. While solving a Rubik’s Cube is difficult, there are several step-by-step methods to do it.

The Professor Cube (5x5x5) has some of thecharacteristics of Rubik's Cube (3x3x3) and some of those of Rubik's Revenge(4x4x4). For example, the piece in the center of each face is fixed relative to the otherfive faces. Hence, as with Rubik's Cube, the face colors are predetermined. You willnot have to figure out what the color of any one of the faces should be. It is the colorof the piece in the center of the face.

The system uses the camera to recognize and solve puzzles: - 3x3x3 Rubik's Cube - Rubik's Cube 3x3x3 Patterns - 2x2x2 Pocket Cube - 4x4x4 Rubik's Revenge - 5x5x5 Professor's Cube - 6x6x6 V-Cube6 - Megaminx - Skewb - Pyraminx - 2x2x3 Tower - 2x3x3 Domino new puzzles on the way. Scan your puzzle with the camera and ASolver will guide you through the steps to solve your puzzle in minutes! ‘reducing’ the cube to a state that can be solved as if it were a 3x3 cube, by solving the center pieces and pairing up the matching edge pieces. Types of Center Pieces The first step in solving the 5x5 is to solve the center pieces. On a 4x4 cube there were no fixed center.

But the edge pieces are like the edge pieces ofRubik's Revenge. They may be inverted. However, the inversion is also different fromthat in Rubik's Revenge. The edge piece is made up of three small pieces (or cubiesaccording to some). While the first and third will always have their colors alignedthe piece in the middle may have its colors inverted from the colors on either side.

Naturally you would not deliberately move the threeparts into place with the center one turned the wrong way. However, you can control onlythe first 11 edge pieces. It's the twelfth edge piece which might have its centersection inverted. If you encounter this inversion you will have a parity problem and youwill correct it in the same manner as with the inverted edge piece in Rubik'sRevenge.

The corner pieces are like those in Rubik'sCube. If six are in place then the last two are in place as well. Unlike Rubik'sPocket Cube and Rubik's Revenge (the even numbered cubes) the odd numbered cubes(Rubik's Cube and the Professor Cube) cannot have six corners in place and two out ofplace.

Even though you will have, at most, one correctionto make, the solution for this cube will still require more moves than Rubik'sRevenge. After all, there are now 48 center section pieces which must be moved into placealong with 36 edge piece parts. .

THE FACE CENTERS

The first step, as with Rubik's Revenge, is tocomplete one of the center sections, that is, one of the 3x3 sections in the center ofeach face. (These 3x3 sections will be treated as a single face center piece in the finalpart of the solution.) Note that there are three different kinds of 'centerpieces' in a 3x3 section. The first is the one in the center which can only rotate.The second is the piece with an edge adjacent to an edge of the center piece. These havebeen called 'cross pieces' by Davenport/Monroe because, when allare in place on one face, the center piece and these four pieces form a cross. The thirdtype touches the center piece only at a corner and therefore we will call them'center/corner pieces'. These three types are not interchangeable.

A 3x3 center section is completed by making stringsof three pieces each. The first string contains the center piece (first type) and twocross pieces in a straight line. In Fig. 1a two blue pieces, including a center piece, arealready together on the top face. A cross piece is missing. It belongs wherethe yellow piece is now.

Look at the front (red) face. There are two bluefaces in the 3x3 center section. Both are cross pieces. We will use the one in the secondvertical slice from the left.

Fig. 1a Fig. 1b Fig. 1c

As a general rule, if we wish to turn an inner(second) slice ofthe cube we will turn the adjacent face as well simply because it is easier and becausethere is no reason not to do so. If the two left slices are rotated 90^ocounterclockwise the blue piece from the front face of the cube will move to be adjacentto the blue center piece on the top face. However our three blue pieces will not bein a straight line. We must prepare the top face prior to the turn of the two left slices.Therefore, we rotate the top face 90^o clockwise first (Fig. 1b) and thenrotate the two left vertical slices 90^o counterclockwise. This gives Fig. 1c.We have our first string of three center section pieces.

The next two strings will both contain one crosspiece flanked by two center/corner pieces. For the second string we will use thecross piece in the front face, second vertical slice from the right, of the cube in Fig.1c. We need to put center/corner pieces both above and below this piece. One such piece isfound on the back side of our cube and a 180^o rotation of the two bottom slicesputs it in place as shown in Fig. 2a.

Fig. 2a

There is another blue center piece of the thirdkind on the front face. It is at the intersection of the second horizontal slice from thetop and the second vertical slice from the left. It needs to replace that red piece aboveour two blue pieces. This can be done quite easily provided we first move that horizontalrow out of the front face. Rotate the top two horizontal slices 90^ocounterclockwise (Fig. 2b) and then rotate the right face 90^o clockwise givingthe cube in Fig. 2c. The blue piece has replaced the red piece. Now rotate the toptwo slices 90^o clockwise and the second string is completed (Fig. 2d).

Fig. 2b Fig. 2c Fig. 2d

This string is put in place by rotating the topface 90^o clockwise (Fig. 3a) and then rotating the two right slices 90^oclockwise (Fig. 3b). Now we need to complete the third string of blue center pieces (notethat two pieces are already together on the front face in Fig. 3b) and move that stringinto place completing the blue face of the cube (Fig. 3c).

Fig. 3a Fig. 3b Fig. 3c

The first face was completed without worrying aboutdisrupting faces which had already been completed. But usually with the second face, andcertainly with the third, some moves will move pieces out of place in a face which hasalready been completed. In such cases it is essential that you use a process which may bedescribed as 'go and get' the piece which you want to put in place.

For example, consider the cube in Fig. 4a. The blueface (on the left side of the cube) has already been completed. We are working on thegreen face and have completed the first string of three green face pieces. The secondstring has two pieces in place in the second vertical slice from the left on the frontface. We want to replace the orange face below those two green faces with the green centerpiece now in the right face (in the second vertical slice from the back). We could rotatethe right face 90^o clockwise and then rotate the two bottom slices 90^ocounterclockwise. The string of three green center pieces would now be complete but wewould have moved a string of blue center pieces out of place on the left side of the cube.

Fig. 4a Fig. 4b Fig. 4c

To solve this problem we will send the orange pieceto the right face to get the green piece. First we will have to move the green piece outof the second horizontal slice. Rotate the right face 90^o counterclockwise(Fig. 4b) and then rotate the bottom two slices 90^o clockwise giving Fig. 4c.Note that the bottom string of three face pieces from the blue side now appears on thefront face. Rotate the right face 180^o (Fig. 4d) and the two bottom slices 90^ocounterclockwise (Fig. 4e). The string of three green pieces is complete. Rotate the topface 90^o clockwise and the two left slices 90^o counterclockwise andtwo strings will be in place on the green face.

Fig. 4d Fig. 4e

The last turn of two slices will not disrupt anyfaces which have already been completed. Hence the 'go and get' process is notneeded in this case. If either the yellow or orange faces had been completed then a'go and get' process would have been required to bring the second string ofcenter face pieces into the green face.

We can use the 'go and get' processeither to bring a center/corner piece from another face into place next to our chosencross piece or we can move a center/corner piece from the same face into a second face,reorient it, and then bring it back into place next to the chosen cross piece. This iswhat we did in completing the second string of blue center pieces. The 'go andget' process is also used to place cross pieces and to move a string of three centerpieces into place on the third or fourth faces.

The first four faces should be completed in such away that the final two faces are adjacent to each other. This is not an absoluterequirement but it helps to visualize the final moves. Let's assume that the finaltwo faces are green and white. Use the 'go and get' process to maximize thenumber of green center pieces in the green face. That is, send two or three green piecesfrom the white face (by a quarter turn of the two vertical front or back slices) to thegreen face, rotate the green face and bring down as many white pieces as possible. Youshould turn the green and white faces so that white pieces brought from the white faceline up with those already in the green face making the white strings in the green face aslong as possible.

The aim is either to reduce the number of whitepieces on the green face to one center/corner piece or to complete both green and whitefaces directly. (The former will also reduce the number of green pieces on the white faceto one of the same type.) To assist you, here are some typical examples of cube faceswhich you will encounter.

In Fig. 5a, rotate the two front slices 90^ocounterclockwise. Rotate the top face 90^o clockwise. Rotate the two frontslices 90o clockwise. The number of white pieces in the green face has been reduced fromfour to three. This creates a cube similar to that in Fig. 5c.

Fig. 5a Fig. 5b Fig. 5c

The cube in Fig. 5b is a straightforward example ofa 'go and get' process in which two strings of three center pieces each areexchanged and all faces are completed.

Rubik's Cube Solver 2x2

In Fig. 5c, rotate the two slices on the back ofthe cube 90^o clockwise. Rotate the top face 180^o. Rotate the twoslices on the back 90^o counterclockwise.

In Fig. 5d, rotate the two slices on the front ofthe cube 90^o counterclockwise. Rotate the top face 90^o clockwise.Rotate the two slices on the front of the cube 90^o clockwise.

Fig. 5d Fig. 5e Fig. 5f

In Fig. 5e, rotate the front two slices 90^ocounterclockwise. Rotate the top face 90^o counterclockwise. Rotate the fronttwo slices 90^o clockwise.

In Fig. 5f, rotate the front two slices 90^ocounterclockwise. Rotate the top face 90^o clockwise. Rotate the front twoslices 90^o clockwise.

The moves described for the cubes in 5c, 5d and 5eleave you with one center/corner piece of the opposite color in each of the green andwhite faces. On the other hand the example in Fig. 5f completes the cube faces.

Most of the time you will wind up with thesituation shown in Fig. 6a. In this case the final two faces are completed by thefollowing process: rotate the two back slices 90^o clockwise; rotate the topface 90^o clockwise; rotate the two back slices 90^o counterclockwise.You now have a string of three white pieces in the green face and a string of three greenfaces in the white face. Use the 'go and get' process to exchange these twostrings.

Fig. 6a Fig. 6b

On occasion you might obtain the cube shown in Fig.6b. In this case the single foreign piece in each of the white and green faces is a crosspiece. Rotate the two back slices 90^o clockwise. Rotate the top face 90^oclockwise. Rotate the two back slices 90^o counterclockwise. The result is thesame as Fig. 5e, except that both the green and white faces have been turned. Turn thefaces so as to duplicate that figure and carry out the process described there.

THE EDGE PIECES

In Rubik's Revenge you had to pair up twoparts for each 'edge piece'. You had no trouble getting the colors to match. Inthe Professor Cube there are now three pieces which must be brought together. You willhave no trouble with the alignment of the two outside pieces. If the yellow color of theblue/yellow piece at the top faces to the right then so will the one at the bottom. Youwon't be able to put it into it's proper space with any other alignment. But thepiece in the middle is different. It can go into place facing in either direction and youhave to make sure you get it right.

In Fig. 7a two parts of the yellow/white edge pieceare already in place so that a 180^o horizontal rotation of the top two sliceswould bring them together. The white face of a yellow/white piece shows at the top of thefront/left edge. You can see a yellow face in the middle of the right/back edge. The coloron the back side is white. However, the third yellow/white edge piece part is not inplace. Rather, you can see it on the right/top edge of the cube. It could be moved intoplace along side the other yellow/white pieces if it were at the bottom of the right/frontedge of this cube, that is, where the orange/yellow piece is Figure 7a. In order that itface in the correct direction its white face must be in the blue face of the cube.

Fig. 7a Fig. 7b

The following Edge Piece Series will put thisyellow/white piece where we want it.

right face 90^o counterclockwise
front face 90^o clockwise
right face 90^o clockwise
front face 90^o counterclockwise

The yellow/white piece is now at the lower part ofthe right/front edge as shown in Fig. 7b.

The bottom two slices are held stationary. Themiddle horizontal slice is rotated 90^o clockwise (looking down from the top)and the top two slices are rotated 90^o counterclockwise. This gives the cube inFig. 7c.

Fig. 7c Fig. 7d

The yellow/white edge piece has been correctlyjoined but we must remove it from its current position in order to preserve it. Again thisis done with an Edge Piece Series.

Rubik's Cube Solver

right face 90^o clockwise
top face 90^o counterclockwise
right face 90^o counterclockwise
top face 90^o clockwise

This gives the cube shown in Fig. 7d. Reversing theoriginal turns of the horizontal slices restores the four vertical faces (yellow, blue,green and white). You have put one edge piece together. You must now repeat this processfor nine other edge pieces.

Sometimes you will find two parts of an edge pieceside by side with the proper orientation relative to each other. Good. Findthe third part and put it in place relative to the other two using the method describedabove.

Professor S Cube Solver

When you have reduced the number of scrambled edgepieces to four or three you must remember to place one of the remaining scrambled edgepieces on either the top or bottom of the cube. This follows because you must use ascrambled edge piece to replace (and thus preserve) the next edge piece you put together.

Fig. 8a

When you get down to two scrambled edge pieces youmust change your approach. In Fig. 8a the edge pieces at right/front and right/back arescrambled. The top and middle parts of the edge piece at right/back both have blue on theback side. The bottom part has green on the back side. If you turn the two bottom slicesclockwise by 90^o you would find that the orange/blue edge piece would becomplete. On the other hand, if you turned the two bottom slices 90^ocounterclockwise you would find that the three blue/green edge piece parts would betogether but would have an inverted middle section.

You might think that this would mean that our cubehas a parity problem. In fact it does not. You would have a parity problem only if theprocess described above showed either that both edge pieces have an inverted middlesection or that neither has an inverted middle section.

But how do we get these edge piece parts together?Rotate the front face by 180^o giving the cube in Fig. 8b. The effect ofthis turn is to invert all three parts of one of the scrambled edge pieces. Nowinstead of having one of its parts in each of the second, third and fourth horizontalslices (as in Fig. 8a) each of the two remaining edge pieces has two of its parts in thesame horizontal slice. There are two orange/blue parts in the secondhorizontal slice from the top of Fig. 8b and two blue/green parts in the fourth horizontalslice from the top.

Now rotate the two bottom slices so that one partof the blue/green pair which do not match is replaced by the second part in the fourthslice from the top (giving the cube in Fig. 8c). (The entire cube in this figure has beenrotated 90^o counterclockwise about an axis from top to bottom in order to get acomplete view of the edge piece in question.) The two adjacent parts of theblue/green edge piece now have matching colors.

Fig. 8b Fig. 8c Fig. 8d Hanes t-shirtmaker lite download.

Use an Edge Piece Series to remove the scramblededge piece from the right/front edge. Now use another Edge Piece Series to return thisedge piece to the right/front edge but in an inverted position (Fig. 8d). Each of theparts in this edge piece has been turned around. When the two bottom slices are rotated180^o the blue/orange part will return to match the other two blue/orange partson the left/back of our cube and the blue/green part will come to the right/front and willmatch the blue/green parts already there.

3x3 Rubik's Cube Solver

If you should actually obtain a cube in which thefinal edge piece is inverted (Fig. 9) then you can change it by using the same method usedfor Rubik's Revenge. Turn the two bottom slices 90^o. This disrupts fourfaces around the cube as well as four edge pieces (including the faulty edge piece). Restore each face in order around the cube using the 'go and get'process. (Do not simply turn the bottom two slices back 90^o.) Nowrestore the four edge pieces. The edge piece inversion will have been removed.

Fig. 9

FINISHING THE CUBE

Once the faces and the edges have been restored theProfessor Cube will behave just like a standard 3x3x3 Rubik's Cube. Hence the cube iscompleted using the procedures of the Ultimate Solution toRubik's Cube.

This method requires about 245 moves (nearestmultiple of 5) to solve a scrambled Professor Cube provided we do not encounter a parityproblem. But an inverted edge piece adds only about 25 moves because we can recognize iteven before all edge pieces have been restored. On the other hand, with Rubik'sRevenge you must restore all edge pieces and then put them in place before you will knowthat the last one is inverted. Oddly enough, the number of moves required to solve aProfessor Cube, including the correction (about 270 moves), is not much more than thatrequired for Rubik's Revenge with its corrections (about 235 moves).

You might have heard the news that the Rubik’s Cube World record was broken by Yusheng Du in 2018, who solved the cube in 3.47 seconds on an official cubing competition. Watch the record breaking video under the link above. You can barely see his fingers moving.

Now that the Christmas holiday season is on its way and this is the time of the year when many people receive Magic Cubes as gifts, we’re dedicating an article to the online Rubik’s Cube solver which might become handy if you’re stuck solving your twisty puzzle.

Start the Rubik’s Cube solver here and watch the video above on how to use it.

The Rubik’s Cube has been around for more than 40 years now and it has become the World’s best selling puzzle toy since its invention with an estimated 400 million sold pieces. This little colored cube changed the World, giving us many confused hours trying to figure out how to unscramble it, but most of us could only fix one side of the six. This is where the average person gets stuck, because when we move forward to solve the next layer we always break the pieces already in place.

There are methods to solve the Rubik’s Cube which divide the puzzle into layers, going from the bottom layer to the top applying algorithms in each step that affect only the remaining cubelets, not breaking the pieces already in place. The most popular Rubik’s Cube solution method solves the cube by starting with the white cross, then solving the white corners, middle layer edges, yellow cross on top, yellow edges, positioning the last layer corners and finally orienting the yellow corners. To learn to solve the puzzle by ourselves we have to memorize the algorithms for each case. For the beginner’s method we would have to learn approximately eight series of rotations but if we want to become “speedcubers”, the advanced Friedrich (CFOP) method requires much more memorization and practice.

If you don’t fancy learning all the algorithms the good news is that there’s an online Rubik’s Cube solver program which can help you get your puzzle fixed. All you have to do is input the colors of the scrambled cube and hit the solve button. The program will show the moves you need to apply to get the cube solved. Follow the instructions carefully because you end up with a jumbled cube if you miss a single turn.

Check out the Rubik’s Cube solver!