A big math conference was underway and Dr. Rokicki, a retired programmer based in Palo Alto, Calif., had helped organize a two-day special session about “serious recreational mathematics” celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Rubik’s Cube. Dr. Rokicki instead recommends the old-fashioned strategy: Set out on a lone path and discover a solving method, even if it takes weeks or months. (It took the computer scientist Donald Knuth less than 12 hours, starting at his dining table in the evening and working straight through to the morning.) Mr. Rubik said that, yes, he indeed did corners-first. Mr. Rubik, who is known to take a philosophical approach to cubology and to life in general, added: “My method was understanding.”‘Cubitus magikia’
