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Fridrich Method/CFOP is one of the most commonly used methods in speedsolving a Rubik's Cube. This method is

Fridrich method

The white cross you need to make to start the solve.

first developed by a group of cubers and popularized by Jessica Fridrich. It works on a layer by layer method, first solving a cross on the bottom (cross), continuing to solve the first two layers (F2L), orienting the last layer (OLL), and finally permuting the last layer algorithms (PLL). This method is commonly referred to as CFOP. 

Basic Rules[]

The notation that will be used here is as follows:

Layers[]

R - Right face

L - Left face                                                                                                  

U - Up face

D - Down face

F - Front face

B - Back face

M - Slice between R and L (Middle)

E - Slice between U and D (Equator/ Equatorial)

S - Slice between F and B (Side)

x - whole cube in direction of R

y - whole cube in direction of U

z - whole cube in direction of F

Turns[]

No Suffix - clockwise

' - opposite (ex. x' is turn the whole cube to the left

2 - half turn/180° turn

w or lowercase letter - double layer quarter-turn/90° clockwise

w' or lowercase letter - double layer quarter-turn/90° counter-clockwise

w2 or lowercase letter - double layer half-turn/180° turn

Cross[]

Solving the cross is the first step in solving the Rubik's cube using CFOP. This involves solving the four edge pieces on one side. The cross can be solved on any side, although many people solve it on the white. The method that is preferred by most is solving on the bottom. The method explained here will solve the cross on the bottom. When solving the cross, you do not have to worry about matching the edges to the individual sides. You must only make sure that the pieces are correctly positioned in relation to all the other cross pieces. You can turn the bottom face to match the pieces after the cross is done. This is usually the simplest step and takes expert speed cubers 2-3 seconds.

First 2 Layers[]

The first two layers, or F2L, is the next step in solving the Rubik's cube using CFOP. It involves placing the bottom corners and middle edges in one step. There are 41 algorithms to learn for solving this step, and seven or eight others that are useful to know. Some speedcubers recommend figuring this step out on your own, so that you can understand exactly why this step works as well as it does. This is the longest step in CFOP, due to the fact that you must perform four algorithms, one for each corner-edge pair, or c/e pair.

Orienting the Last Layer[]

The Orientation of the Last Layer, or OLL, is the second to the last step to solving a Rubik's cube using CFOP. It is when you get all the yellow parts (or the opposite of where you started) of the individual Cubies on the top. This step involves manipulating the top layer so that the top is a solid color, even if the pieces are not in the right places. This step involves learning the most algorithms (57) of any step due to the fact that there are so many different combinations of the top layer.

Permuting the Last Layer[]

Scrambled Rubik's Cube
This section is a stub.
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Permuting the Last Layer, or PLL, finishes the cube by permutating the last layer. All of the last layer pieces are moved to their proper locations. This uses algorithms called "perms", (short for permutation[s]), which permute the pieces in the needed way.

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