Lesson 1
Moves and notation
Learn what the letters U D L R F B mean, how prime and double moves work, and how to turn the whole cube.
To solve the cube we write moves as letters. Each letter names a face and means turning that face.
The letters of the six faces: U up, D down, R right, L left, F front, B back.
A letter on its own means turning that face a quarter turn clockwise. Judge clockwise as if you were looking straight at that face. For example, R turns the right face upwards and U turns the top face to the left.
A letter followed by an apostrophe (like R') means turning that face counter-clockwise. R' is read “R prime”.
A letter followed by 2 (like R2) means turning that face twice, a half turn. For R2 the direction does not matter.
The small letters x, y and z turn the whole cube, not one face. y turns the whole cube the same way as U, to the left: the front face goes to the left and the right face comes to the front.
A sequence of moves is called an algorithm. Do an algorithm from left to right, letter by letter: R U R' U' means R, then U, then R prime, then U prime.