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Using a combination of mathematical tricks, good programming and 35 CPU-years on Google’s servers, a group of researchers have proved that every position of Rubik’s Cube can be solved in 20 moves or less. The group consists of Kent State mathematician Morley Davidson, Google engineer John Dethridge, math teacher Herbert Kociemba, and programmer Tomas Rokicki.

This is an amazing result and a testament to more than 30 years of work on the problem. The Cube was invented in 1974 and almost immediately the subject for programs to solve it. In 1981, Morwen Thistlethwaite proved that any configuration could be solved in no more than 52 moves. Periodically, tighter upper bounds for the maximum solution length were found. This result ends the quest — there are some configurations (about 300M) that require 20 moves to solve and there are none that require more than 20 moves.

In their own words, here’s how the group solved all 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 Cube positions:

• We partitioned the positions into 2,217,093,120 sets of 19,508,428,800 positions each.
• We reduced the count of sets we needed to solve to 55,882,296 using symmetry and set covering.
• We did not find optimal solutions to each position, but instead only solutions of length 20 or less.
• We wrote a program that solved a single set in about 20 seconds.
• We used about 35 CPU years to find solutions to all of the positions in each of the 55,882,296 sets.

This reminds me of the first program I wrote for my own enjoyment, which used brute force to find all solutions to Piet Hein’s Soma Cube. In 1969 I had a summer job as the night operator for an IBM 360 and I would turn off the clock to run my program so that the management wouldn’t know how much computer time I was consuming.

Here is an Java applet from the group showing one of the hardest positions to solve.

See this BBC story more more information on this amazing result.

Seen on the Web: “Swoogle is an alien from outer space send out to spy on the modnation circuit. He got five faces so he can watch them from all angles without turning his head. However only his front shows many emotions. His right face is always angry, his left face is always in awe for some reason.”

…is just around the corner!! Though Fogo de Chao is not on the list this
time, I am still SUPER excited! =)

For a list of restaurants (and the neighborhood they’re in) check this out:
http://www.baltimorerestaurantweek.com/

Baltimore Restaurant Week is from August 13th to August 22nd. It’s a great
treat for us college students who start school the week after! For $20.10,
you get to have a great 3-course lunch or for $35.50 a great 3-course
dinner. Trust me, these restaurants are DIVINE!!

A few of my personal favorites and suggestions include:
1) Mezze (adjacent to Kali’s Court- they are run under the same
management): If you’ve never had tapas (aka- small plates), you have to
check this place out! Great variety and there’s always something to please
everyone’s palate. Bring lots of friends because this is a meal that is
meant to be shared! The dinner option is only available for restaurant
week but they are offering this deal on weekends as well!

2) The Black Olive: Some GREAT fresh seafood and Mediterranean eats! A
lunch option is also available so be sure to check them out! I went there
last year with the boyfriend, and it was fabulous =).

3) RA Sushi Bar: Now I’ve never had their restaurant week special, but
their Happy Hour (from 3-7 PM Monday through Friday) is fanTASTIC!! Half
price select appetizers (practically all of them), nigiri and maki sushi,
and drinks!!!

4) From what I’ve heard/read, Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion is actually a great
chain restaurant. For you chocoholics, their chocolate souffle is heaven!!
=)

5) Ruth Chris Steakhouse: Again, another chain, but seriously, it’s some
good steak!! You really can’t beat this price at any other time of the
year, so be sure to check them out for you meat lovers!

Please let me know of any great restaurants that you find around
Baltimore!! Let me know which restaurants you tried out this week!