Westminster College Hosts Speaker at Math Colloquium
Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Dr. Morley Davidson of Kent State University was the guest speaker at a colloquium hosted by the Westminster College Mathematics and Computer Science Department Nov. 26.
His presentation was "The Mathematics of Speed-solving the Rubik's Cube."
Davidson examined the two most popular speed methods, popularized in the1980s by Jiri Fridrich and Lars Petrus. One method goes slightly faster in the world's fastest hands, and the other has the advantage of saving moves when more time is allowed. He analyzed a variant method lying at the interface between speed-solving and fewest-moves-solving, showing that it averages just fewer than 40 moves. The catch is that it requires many more memorized move-sequences. The talk ended with a discussion of the problem of how to mathematically classify and then memorize so many move-sequences.
Davidson is an associate professor of mathematics and coordinator of undergraduate studies at Kent State University. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and held post-doctoral positions at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and the University of Georgia.
Contact Westminster's Mathematics and Computer Science Department at (724) 946-7284 or visit www.westminster.edu/acad/math/dept/overview.cfm for additional information.
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