Rubik's Cube Scrambling Requires at Least 26 Random Moves
Yanlin Qu, Tomas Rokicki, Yang, Hillary · arXiv (Cornell University) · 2024
Scrambling the standard 3x3x3 Rubik's Cube corresponds to a random walk on a group containing approximately 43 quintillion elements. Viewing the random walk as a Markov chain, its mixing time determines the number of random moves required to sufficiently scramble a solved cube. With the aid of a supercomputer, we show that the mixing time is at least 26, providing the first non-trivial bound.