The Rubik’s Cube was invented by Hungarian sculptor Erno Rubik in 1974. It is a 3-D mechanical cube with six faces, each covered with nine stickers. The stickers belong to one of the six solid colors, and a pivot mechanism helps move each face of the cube independently. The original Rubik’s Cube had the colors red, orange, green, yellow, white and blue. Today, the Rubik’s Cube uses other color and design combinations as well. However, the basic puzzle remains the same. To solve it, you must bring all the stickers of one color to the same face. This must happen with all the faces and all the colors.
Along with basic math skills such as following direction, memorization and perseverance, the Rubik’s Cube also can be used to teach the terminology and characteristics associated with cubes and other geometrical shapes. It also helps the students identify the center, edge and corner of a geometrical figure. The students may also disassemble the cube and reassemble it to understand the structure of a cube.
Some math teachers also use the Rubik’s Cube to teach probability. You can use probability to estimate the number of ways in which the Rubik’s Cube can be solved. This is fun way to teach theoretical and experimental probability. A completely solved Rubik’s Cube can be used to study probability. Roll the cube and identify the probability of the white squares being on top.
You can use the Rubik’s Cube to study transformations and symmetry. Also known as the Group Theory, this stream of algebra will help the student understand the ways you can turn, rotate or stretch a pattern. The student can develop the Group Theory with respect to the Rubik’s Cube.