Archives

I recently investigated optimal reduction parity fixes on the 4x4x4 cube.

First some explanation of terms. A common strategy used in solving the 4x4x4 cube is to solve the center pieces, and then pair up the 12 pairs of edge pieces. The puzzle can then be solved like a 3x3x3 cube by turning only the face layers, except for two possible types of parity conditions that can't normally occur on the 3x3x3. These parity conditions are often called OLL parity and PLL parity (since whether or not these parity conditions are present typically isn't recognized until attempting to solve the last layer). Since the 4x4x4 is "reduced" to a pseudo-3x3x3 cube, this strategy is generally referred to as reduction.