From BRYAN@wvnvm.wvnet.edu Wed Jan 18 11:54:12 1995 Return-Path: Received: from WVNVM.WVNET.EDU by life.ai.mit.edu (4.1/AI-4.10) for /com/archive/cube-lovers id AA27651; Wed, 18 Jan 95 11:54:12 EST Message-Id: <9501181654.AA27651@life.ai.mit.edu> Received: from WVNVM.WVNET.EDU by WVNVM.WVNET.EDU (IBM VM SMTP V2R2) with BSMTP id 5427; Wed, 18 Jan 95 11:53:36 EST Received: from WVNVM.WVNET.EDU (NJE origin BRYAN@WVNVM) by WVNVM.WVNET.EDU (LMail V1.2a/1.8a) with BSMTP id 7576; Wed, 18 Jan 1995 11:53:35 -0500 X-Acknowledge-To: Date: Wed, 18 Jan 1995 11:53:21 EST From: "Jerry Bryan" To: Subject: Re: Re: Models for the Cube In-Reply-To: Message of 12/10/94 at 15:12:00 from , Martin.Schoenert@math.rwth-aachen.de Both the original note and the reply were rather lengthy, so I will not quote the whole thing. We were at the point where we were discussing models for cubes with edges only. Such a cube can be modeled as a set of cosets of C, or as a subset of G or of CG. We arrived at the following dialog which discussed the correspondence between the two kinds of models. On 12/10/94 at 15:12:00 Martin Schoenert said: >Jerry continued > A similar argument applies to G[E]/C[E] except that we have to fix > an edge cubie instead of a corner cubie. >Almost. But there is a tricky problem here. Again G[E] = CG[E], >so it doesn't matter whether we talk about G[E]/C[E] (as you prefer) >or about CG[E]/C[E] (as I prefer). Again we can find a supplement >for C[E] in CG[E], namely the subgroup of all elements of CG[E] >that leave a particular edge cubie fixed. Assume that we fix the >upper-right edge cubie, then this supplement is . >But this does *not* respect costs. That is take an element e of CG[E]. >Let r be its representative in , i.e., c e = r, >where c is a rotation of the entire cube. The the costs of the two >elements, viewed as elements of CG[E] is clearly the same (remember, >rotations cost nothing). But the cost of r, viewed as an element of > *with this generating system*, may be higher. Indeed, *is* higher a large percentage of the time, I think. >For example take R[E] * r[E]' (where r is the rotation of the entire >cube). In CG[E] this element has cost 1. And this element lies in >, since it fixes the upper-right edge cubie. >But the cost of this element *with respect to the generating system >L[E],D[E],F[E],B[E]* is not 1. >We can repair this by choosing a different generating system for >, for example the system >L[E],D[E],F[E],B[E],R[E]*r[E]',U[E]*u[E]'. >So in general a model for the solution up to rotations for a >certain set , is a supplement of C[] in CG[], >with a generating system that respects costs. I guess I need to understand a little more precisely what we mean by "respecting costs", but I have a question here. I was thinking about this issue of representing edges only cubes by cosets vs. representing edges only cubes as subsets of G before your note arrived, and I thought I saw a problem. It is well known that G[E] must have an equal number of even and odd permutations. If we generate G[E] as , it is also the case that there are just as many positions an even distance from Start as an odd distance from Start because the parity of the distance from Start is the same as the parity of the permutation if we restrict ourselves to quarter turns. But in the computer search for God's Algorithm for edges only cubes, there were not equal numbers of positions an even distance from Start as an odd distance from Start. The computer search used the coset model G[E]/C[E], where this notation means the set of cosets of C, *not* the factor group. In and of itself, the mismatch between the number of positions at an even distance from Start and at an odd distance from Start should not pose a problem. It is not clear to me what it means to speak of the "parity" of a coset of C, and half of each coset will be even and the other half will be odd. Hence, it is not clear that a particular coset must *a priori* be an odd or even distance from Start. But if we map each coset to an element of G[E], it is meaningful to speak of the parity of the element of G[E]. And if the elements of G[E] to which we map the cosets form a subgroup, then there must be an equal number of odd and even elements in the subgroup (unless they are all even?!). If the mapping respects costs in the sense of maintaining the same distance from Start, then I don't understand how we can avoid a conflict between the equal number of even and odd permutations in the subgroup of G[E] and the unequal number of even and odd distances from Start in the coset model G[E]/C[E]. Perhaps you could clarify your generating system and its respecting of costs a bit further? = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Robert G. Bryan (Jerry Bryan) (304) 293-5192 Associate Director, WVNET (304) 293-5540 fax 837 Chestnut Ridge Road BRYAN@WVNVM Morgantown, WV 26505 BRYAN@WVNVM.WVNET.EDU