Cube Notation

Contents

• Basic Notation
• Full Notation

Basic Notation

The cube has 6 sides and the cubing community have given each of those sides a standard name, so that we can clearly write down or say out loud any moves we do. On this page we will choose to always hold the cube so that the blue side is on top, the red side is in front, and the yellow side is on the right.

U

The top side of the cube (blue in our case) is called the Up face or U-face. A U turn is made by turning the Up face once in the direction that would be clockwise if you were looking straight at that face.

U'

When you turn the U-face in the direction that would be counter clockwise if you were looking straight at it, we write that as U' and pronounce it U prime.

U2

A double-turn clockwise is the same as a double-turn counterclockwise. We write a double turn of the U-face as U2.

We treat the other faces of the cube is exactly the same way. They each have a capital letter name. That letter on its own means turning that face clockwise (if you were looking straight at it). That letter followed by ' means turn it counter clockwise. That letter followed be a 2 means turn it twice. Here are the turns for all the faces.

Up		U		U'		U2
Right		R		R'		R2
Front		F		F'		F2
Down		D		D'		D2
Left		L		L'		L2
Back		B		B'		B2

Be careful to notice the directions that D, L, and B move! Remember that it is always considered as clockwise when looking at that face. That is all for basic cube notation! You don't need anything else to understand the Super Method tutorial.

Full Notation

You don't need this full notation at all for the Super Method. But, it is super useful if you want to keep learning cubing beyond the basics. Technically you only ever need the 6 basic face turns to do anything on the cube. But, sometimes other ways of manipulating the cube can be more ergonomic. Beyond the basic face turns, we have also notation for rotations of the whole cube, for turns of individual slices, and for wide turns.

Cube rotations are named x, y, z and use the same prime and 2 notation as basic face turns. The x, y, and z correspond to the x, y, and z axes of the cube. To be precise, the x axis connects the centers of the Right and Left faces, the y axis connects the centers of the Up and Down faces, and the z axis connects the centers of the Front and Back faces. An x rotation moves in the same direction as R. A y rotation moves in the same direction as U. A z rotation moves in the same direction as F. You remember these three rules as one rule: a rotation always follows the side on its axis that is closer to it in the alphabet. (x is closer to R than it is to L, y is closer to U than it is to D, z is closer to F than it is to B).

	x		x'		x2
	y		y'		y2
	z		z'		z2

Slice moves move one of the layers between faces of the cube. Slice moves are named M, E, S and use the same prime and 2 notation as basic face turns. The M slice is the slice between the Right and Left faces. The E slice is the slice between the Up and Down faces. The S slice is the slice between the Front and Back faces. M is short for Middle (or can be called Meridian). E is short for Equator (because it is the equator of the cube). S is short for Standing, because the S slice, when viewing the cube head-on, is standing like a wall in front of you. Just like rotations, slice moves follow the face turn on the same axis that is closest in the alphabet. M moves follow L. E moves follow D. S moves follow F.

	M		M'		M2
	E		E'		E2
	S		S'		S2

Wide moves move a basic face and the layer next to that face in the same direction simultaneously. We write wide moves using a lower case letter for the corresponding basic face.

	u		u'		u2
	r		r'		r2
	f		f'		f2
	d		d'		d2
	l		l'		l2
	b		b'		b2

As one last piece of notation, sometimes you will see moves surrounded by parentheses. For example, you might see (F2 B2) or (R U R' U'). These parentheses don't have a universal meaning. Sometimes they are used to mean moves that are performed simultaneously. If turns are along the same axis, it is possible to do them with different fingers at the exact same time, like F2 and B2. Sometimes they are used to help visually break up a longer sequence of moves into come short mini-algorithms that you probably already have in muscle memory from cubing a little bit (these mini-algs are called triggers). This is what is going on the in (R U R' U') case. With all this notation, you should be able to understand any sequence of cubing moves. Sometimes people introduce even more advanced things appropriate for a specific context, but we won't have a need for any more.