Rubik's cube - Corner exchanges - Details
Exchanging 3 corners
| Variant 1 |
Variant 2 |
Variant 3 |
Variant 4 |
| 
| 
| 
|
-T
-R
T
L
-T
R
T
-L
| F
R
-F
L
F
-R
-F
-L
| -B
R
B
L2
-B
-R
B
L2
| F
-R
-F
-L
F
R
-F
L
|
There are probably 24 variations of the 8-move formula to exchange 3 corners, without counting mirror images and formulas taken from a different angle. I am just listing a few here. The principle that these formulas are based on, is quite simple. We have two corners on the left, and one on the right. With the first move we bring one of the corner to the right side, The second move exchange it, the 3rd brings it back. On the fourth move we replace that corner by the other one on the same face. and we just undo all the moves on the right side backward. to restore the rest of the cube in its initial state. The last move is to exchange back the 1st and 2nd corner.
Exchanging 2x2 corners
Initial
formula |
variant |
| 
|
R
T
-R
-T
R
T
-R
-T
R
T
-R
-T
| R
-T
-R
T
R
-T
-R
T
R
-T
-R
T
|
This is probably the first useful formulas I ever found, way back in 1980. I was trying to repeat simple patterns, and this is one of the results I found. Note that if you rotate each formula by 1 move, you end-up with a formula that rotates corners like its variant on other corners.
Variants for swapping 5 corners
Using
3 sides |
Using
2 sides |
Rotated
by 1 |
In 10 moves |
| 
| 
|
R2
B
T2
-B
R2
B
T2
-B
R2
B
T2
-B
| R2
F
R2
-F
R2
F
R2
-F
R2
F
R2
-F
|
B
T2
-B
R2
B
T2
-B
R2
B
T2
-B
R2
|
F
R2
-F
R2
F
R2
-F
R2
F
R2
-F
R2
| R2
B2
L2
F2
D
F2
L2
B2
R2
T
|
Note that the 3 sides method also rotates the Top and Right faces by 180°. Also note that that the rotated formulas are identical to the reverse of the original formulas.
The 10-move method, while shorter in number of moves than the 12 move ones, rotates all 6 faces, and therefore will probably take longer to execute for a speed-cuber. That formula also rotates the top and bottom centers by 1/4 turn.
Swapping 2x3 corners
Using
6 sides |
|
R2
B2
L2
F2
D2
F2
L2
B2
R2
T2
|
This may not be a very useful formula except for making special patterns
Click here if you need to understand the notation used on this page