Rubik's family cubes of all sizes facts for kids

The original Rubik's cube was a mechanical 3×3×3 cube puzzle invented in 1974 by the Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik. Extensions of the Rubik's cube have been around for a long time and come in both hardware and software forms. The major extension have been the availability of cubes of larger size and the availability of the more complex cubes with marked centres. The properties of Rubik’s family cubes of any size together with some special attention to software cubes is the main focus of this article. Many properties are mathematical in nature and are functions of the cube size variable.

Cube types

Hardware cubes

Hardware (physical) cubes are based on the original size 3 cube invented by Erno Rubik in 1974. These cubes usually use coloured stickers on the facelets for cubie identification. The size 3 standard Rubik’s cube gained peak interest in the 1980s and was closely followed by the size 4 (Rubik's Revenge) cube. Other, usually more recently available, hardware forms of the cube come in size 2 (Pocket Cube), size 5 (Professor's Cube), size 6 (V-Cube 6), and size 7 (V-Cube 7). Lesser known hardware cubes of larger sizes have also been produced. Currently, the largest hardware cube made is the size 33, and the largest mass-produced is size 19.

Software cubes

In parallel with the hardware form of the cube there are many software forms available that obey the same rules as the hardware forms. Software cube emulators are not subject to the physical restraints that impose a size limit on the hardware forms. Hence the only really big cubes available are those in software form. Also, unlike the hardware forms, a range of cube sizes can easily be accommodated by the one program. The design characteristics of programs that allow users to unscramble cubes vary considerably with such features as the capability to allow the user to save a partially unscrambled state being often available.

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