Rubik's Cubes

by Lars Karlsson, CC-BY-SA-3.0 or CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Growing up I had gotten the impression from television that solving a Rubik's Cube was the height of genius, a feat that only the most intelligent people could accomplish. This being so, when I received a Rubik's Cube as a gift for a birthday or Christmas around age ten I was highly doubtful that I could solve it anytime soon. I estimated that it would probably take me at least a year, and maybe more, to shift all of the little colored squares back into their original position after I had thoroughly mixed them up.

I was quite surprised when it did not take me a year to solve the Rubik's Cube. I don't remember exactly how long it did take, but I think it was less than than a month. I felt a sense of accomplishment upon solving it, but not as much as I had expected to. I couldn't believe that it wasn't as difficult as I had thought!