Notation
In order to communicate about move sequences for the cube, a notation system has been develloped. On this page, I will show you the most common ways to write down the moves. All the moves are illustrated with Java Applets. The applet will pop-op when you click on one of the images. This section handles:
The 6 faces of the cube
The cube has faces: Upper (U), Down (D), Left (L), Right (R), Front (F) and Back (B). We usually use these 6 letters to refer to specific layers. In the table below, I marked the layers with blue.
| U-layer | D-layer | L-layer | R-layer | F-layer | B-layer |
For each layer, there are three possible moves:
- Twist the layer 90 degrees clockwise
- Twist the layer 90 degrees counterclockwise
- Twist the layer 180 degrees (direction doesn't matter)
A clockwise move of a layer is represented by the letter that corresponds to that layer.
Example: U would mean a 90 degree clockwise turn of the U layer.
A counterclockwise move of a layer is represented by the letter that corresponds to that layer, followed by an apostrophe.
Example: U' would mean a 90 degree counterclockwise turn of the U layer.
A 180 degree turn would be is represented by the letter that corresponds to that layer, followed by a 2.
Example: U2 would mean a 180 degree turn of the U layer (in any direction)
Notice that a 'clockwise' turn mean clockwise when looking at that face. For the Back layer, this looks like a counterclockwise move from the perspective of the person holding the cube. This takes a while to get used to.
Table
The following table shows how the cube, after you apply the move on a solved cube. You can click on the images to make an applet pop-up. The applet will show you the move.
Slice moves
There are 3 more layers that are associated with letters:
| E-layer | M-layer | S-layer |
| Equator | Middle layer | Standing layer |
In which directions do these layers turn? The layers follow the same directions as the D, L and F layers:
- The E-layer follows the same direction as the D layer.
- The M-layer follows the same direction as the L layer.
- The S-layer follows the same direction as the F layer.
E |
E' |
E2 |
M |
M' |
M2 |
S |
S' |
S2 |
Double layer turns
Lowercase letters represent 'double layer turns'. For example, the u move is a move of the two top-layers of the cube, following the same direction as U. In other words, it's a U move, combined with an E' move.
Like all the other notation symbols, these lowercase letters can be followed by a 2 or an apostrophe. For double layer turns, some websites might use the notation Rw instead of the lowercase r.
Cube rotations
The letters x, y and z are used to represent rotations of the whole cube. The following pictures show how a 'Nomal cube' looks like after applying x, or y, or z respectively:
Normal cube |
...after x |
...after y |
...after z |
- x is a cube rotation which follows the direction of the R-face.
- y is a cube rotation which follows the direction of the U-face.
- z is a cube rotation which follows the direction of the F-face.
Like all the other notation symbols, these letters can be followed by a 2 or an apostrophe. The move x is basically the R move, but with the whole cube. For this reason, some websites might use the notation Rc instead of x.