1. Rubik's Cube
  2. Notation

Rubik's Cube Notation

In order to keep track of moves we'll use a handy notation introduced by David Singmaster in the early 1980's. Holding the cube with one of the square faces in front, and another square face on the top we call the six sides: Left, Front, Right, Back, Up, Down.

image of cube with left, front, right, back, up and down faces labeled

We use the first letter of each name to denote a 90 degree clockwise rotation of that face:

L denotes twist of left face clockwise F denotes twist of front face clockwise R denotes twist of right face clockwise B denotes twist of back face clockwise U denotes twist of up face clockwise D denotes twist of down face clockwise

A counterclockwise rotation is denoted by the letter with a "-1" superscript:

L superscript -1 denotes twist of left face counterclockwise F superscript -1 denotes twist of front face counterclockwise R superscript -1 denotes twist of right face counterclockwise B superscript -1 denotes twist of back face counterclockwise U superscript -1 denotes twist of up face counterclockwise D superscript -1 denotes twist of down face counterclockwise

It is useful to move the middle slice between the left and right faces, so it is given a name too.

M denotes twist of vertical middle slice clockwise as viewed from right M superscript -1 denotes twist of vertical middle slice counterclockwise as viewed from right