On God's Number(s) for Rubik's Slide
Michael A. Jones, Brittany C. Shelton, Miriam E. Weaverdyck · College Mathematics Journal · 2014
SummaryRubik's Slide consists of a 3 × 3 grid of squares reminiscent of a face of Rubik's Cube. Squares may light up in one of two colors or remain unlit, and the goal is to use a series of moves to change a given initial pattern to a given end pattern. Viewing these moves as permutations, we use algebraic and graph-theoretic tools to analyze a simpler version of the puzzle and the three difficulty levels of Rubik's Slide. We determine the maximum number of moves an omniscient player would need to solve each variation, known as God's number.