Free Web NovelChapter 86: Chapter 81: God’s Number Was Easily Cracked
"Rubik’s cube algorithm expert: Cracking the 3x3 cube with a personal computer is impossible!"
"Software unlocking, a new method of scam!"
"The scammer managed to deceive China’s media!"
Soon enough, there was related coverage in United States media.
Most Americans treated it as a joke, not thinking it was significant news, as negative news from across the ocean is common to them. They are used to it.
In the American public opinion, this news just caused a minor ripple, and before long, it was forgotten.
China, however, was different.
Many people within the country pay attention to overseas news.
Media is no exception.
"Tongzhi News Network" is such a media outlet. They like to publish overseas news here domestically. All they needed to do was to find useful news and translate it into Chinese.
This news will soon be converted into domestic reports.
Fang Datong is the editor-in-chief of "Tongzhi News Network". When he wasn’t managing the release of content, he spent most of his time browsing foreign news.
One day while browsing, he was immediately attracted by a piece of news.
"The scammer managed to deceive China’s media!"
"Scammer?"
"Chinese media?"
Upon opening the news article and reading it along with domestic reports, Fang Datong became energized.
He didn’t fully trust the overseas report.
Some foreign reports are purely meant to tarnish reputations and don’t provide any references. But this report seemed genuine, even quoting words from a professor in the field.
"A personal computer cannot possibly crack a 3x3 Rubik’s cube!"
"I have researched the Rubik’s cube for fifteen years, thought over various algorithms, yet I haven’t been able to reduce the computing volume to an acceptable level..."
A problem that a top American university professor, who had researched it for fifteen years, couldn’t solve, can a Chinese high school student crack it?
This felt like a joke!
Fang Datong immediately downloaded the Rubik’s Cube Calculator. After installing it, he followed the instructions to open a webpage.
Couldn’t open it!
He tried several times but failed to open it, which further confirmed the news.
Soon after,
"Tongzhi News Network" released a news piece, even putting it on the home page’s top column, titled "Ignorant’s price: The high school student who deceived the world will face legal consequences!"
This title would easily make people think of a story about a high school student who doesn’t understand the law, fabricating lies to deceive the world, and finally facing legal penalties.
The news piece had just been posted, and it attracted a lot of clicks.
"Overnight, a software tool called ’Rubik’s Cube Calculator’ swept the Internet. Everyone who understood what it represented was in awe."
"It represents a new simplified algorithm!"
"It represents cracking God number!"
"Yet, many people have never thought: Can a high school student solve a world problem?"
"Morey Davidson, Mathematics professor at Kent State University, has devoted fifteen years to Rubik’s cube algorithms, known as the ’Rubik’s cube algorithm expert’..."
That’s what the Internet is like.
When different media reports appear, they always attract some supporters. "Tongzhi News Network" is rather influential, and their reports were rapidly reprinted by other media.
Instantly,
A second voice appeared on the Internet--
"I knew it! I’ve also studied the algorithm of Rubik’s cube. Just thinking about it makes me dizzy. A high school student? Haha."
"Rubik’s Cube Calculator? It’s a scam software!"
"Even some media outlets have been tricked. When they put out the reports, didn’t they try it once?"
"The trial costs money!"
"The webpage for passwords cannot be opened now, it must be locked, blocked and blacklisted by the Internet Police."
...
On that day, Zhao Yi noticed the public opinion.
Thankfully,
Only a few media outlets had published messages, referencing overseas reports calling him a ’scammer’, but such situations are normal on the Internet. Any news will have different voices.
He didn’t mind.
Truth is truth.
In some forums, some people also helped to clarify the situation; they were people who had successfully completed the charging process, and successfully unlocked the Rubik’s Cube Calculator.
So...
You have to blame it on the fees.
If the Rubik’s Cube Calculator became free to use, naturally there won’t be any talk of ’scams’, and negative public opinion would certainly be much less.
Zhao Yi didn’t mind.
He didn’t have a plan to make it free just yet.
This wasn’t selfishness.
Some large companies, laboratories, research institutions invest a lot of money, manpower, and material resources to research technology, products. Nobody should expect them to make their results available for free, right?
Zhao Yi didn’t expect to make a lot of money, but income is an affirmation for the hard work he put in.
He was just worried about the charging website.
The service provider for the website rentals lower-tier pages, offering servers that could handle up to a thousand users’ traffic. If you wanted to rent a more advanced server, the annual cost would balloon into tens or even hundreds of thousands.
That would be such a waste!
The Magic Cube Calculator is just a software tool. Once you unlock it with a password, there won’t be any more income.
It’s a one-time sale product.
For example, if you rent a server for a hundred thousand users, even though you could recoup your investment in one fell swoop, you won’t get much in the way of further income.
"Ding, ding!"
The Penguin Number had just received a new message.
From the icon, Zhao Yi knew it was Zhang Zhen right away.
The message from Zhang Zhen was a bit unexpected, "Do you have any plans of partnering up for your Magic Cube Calculator?"
"You want to buy the algorithm?"
"No."
Zhang Zhen answered, "It’s not necessary to buy the algorithm. It’s overly expensive, almost impossible to exclusively own, and I guess you would make it public eventually, right?"
"Yes."
Zhao Yi admitted to his thoughts.
It’s nothing but the truth.
A new algorithm in the field of computer science could only be kept secret for a while. It’s impossible to monopolize it forever. It’s merely a matter of time before someone cracks it based on even the tiniest trace of the final output. freewebnovel.cσ๓
Zhang Zhen said, "Here’s what I’m thinking. Our company can help you set up a new payment page, provide a server for free, and you can still control the account that the payment goes to."
"Really?"
"/Haha, of course! If you trust me, send me the encrypted algorithm package along with your account information, and just wait for the link from me."
Zhang Zhen said a lot in one breath.
Zhao Yi thought for a moment, then understood what Zhang Zhen was getting at.
This was about getting a slice of advertising!
The Magic Cube Calculator is popular right now, with lots of news online. He must want to put the link on his company’s website, so that when users click on it, they’d see their company’s advertisement. People might even think that there’s some connection between the Magic Cube Calculator and his company.
Actually...
If a few product ads are added on the web page, wouldn’t that make a lot of money on the side?
Zhao Yi shook his head.
He ended up sending over the encrypted algorithm package.
Half an hour later, Zhang Zhen sent a link to a webpage, along with a message, "/Blushing, added an advertisement on a whim!"
Zhao Yi felt relieved instead.
He edited the software prompt for the recharge link, then sent a package called ’Magic Cube Calculator 1.0 version’ to Zhang Zhen.
Quickly.
A new version of the Magic Cube Calculator popped up online.
...
Zhang Zhen had only exchanged a few words with Zhao Yi, like a private conversation, a favor between friends.
In fact, it was a collaboration.
Universe Interactive Technology Company values collaboration highly. Likely because of publicity purposes, they quickly announced to the public, "Our company is in collaboration with Zhao Yi, the creator of the Magic Cube Calculator. The unlocking and payment parts of the Magic Cube Calculator will be operated through our company’s website."
It’s a straightforward announcement.
There was no formal agreement between the two parties. Universe Interactive just wanted the public to remember their company’s name while downloading the Magic Cube Calculator. frёewebnoѵēl.com
With the upgrade of the Magic Cube Calculator and the changes to the recharge page, many people got to know about it.
Lots of people downloaded and recharged it, wanting to test what the Magic Cube Calculator could do and to verify the chatter online.
It turned out to be real.
As more and more people had personally verified it, the tide of public opinion online immediately turned. Almost all the doubts had disappeared.
Some influential institutes also voiced their opinions.
The first to step forward was the Rubik’s Cube Association, which is directly related to the Magic Cube Calculator.
The president of the Rubik’s Cube Association stated, "If we can confirm the effect of the Magic Cube Calculator, in future competitions, we will use the Magic Cube Calculator to ensure the minimum steps to restore scrambled cubes are the same."
"This makes the competition much fairer!"
Then came the "Brain Power Burst" program team. During an interview, the head of the program Zhou Fangsheng stated, "In future 3x3 Rubik’s Cube competitions, ’Brain Power Burst’ will also use the Magic Cube Calculator to ensure fairness."
At the same time.
Some experts and professors also came forward to explain the complexity of the 3x3 Rubik’s Cube algorithm, stating that the Magic Cube Calculator contains an exquisite algorithm, and it’s of great help in cracking the God’s number.
This is just a glamorous way of talking about old news.
Many previous reports had already explained the significance of the Magic Cube Calculator. But what people wanted to know was whether the calculations made by the Magic Cube Calculator were flawless, namely "whether all the calculated steps are the minimum" and "whether all states of the cube can be calculated."
The next morning, a significant piece of news appeared.
Liu Hemin, professor of the National Academy of Sciences, announced that he and his team, using supercomputers, had simulated a hundred million random 3x3 Rubik’s Cube states and used the Magic Cube Calculator to get all the results.
Although only thousands of results were verified, all the verified results were accurate.
Additionally, they simulated a unique chaotic state of a 3x3 Rubik’s Cube, referred to as ’Superflip’ in foreign countries. In the Superflip state, the position of each cubic piece is correct, except each cubical piece is reversed.
Previously, it was proven that the Superflip state couldn’t be restored with fewer than 20 moves, therefore, the God’s number is believed to be no less than 20.
Now using the Magic Cube Calculator, the computer cracked the Superflip state and obtained a simplified 20-step solution. There was no need for computer calculations; the researchers could manually restore it, directly proving the correctness of the result.
In other words...
After the appearance of the Magic Cube Calculator, the God’s number of a 3x3 Rubik’s Cube seems to have been cracked.
The number is 20.
