The Rubik's cube is turning 50. This is how the iconic puzzle really works

The Rubik's Cube was created 50 years ago by Hungarian inventor Ernő Rubik.

Over 500 million of them have been sold. Needless to say, the 3D puzzle has captured the imagination of countless students around the world.

It has also inspired all kinds of competition, everything from solving blindfolded to tests of speed — and even with your feet.

But no matter the cube, the process of solving one involves math – specifically, algorithms. Roman Chavez loved Rubik's Cubes so much, he founded the Jr. Oakland Cubers in high school. Now a mathematics student at Cornell University, Roman talks to Short Wave host Emily Kwong about how to solve the cube and what life lessons he's learned from the cube.

Interested in more math episodes? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.

Listen to Short Wave on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.

Today's episode was produced by Hannah Chinn and edited by Rebecca Ramirez. Hannah checked the facts. Tiffany Vera was the audio engineer.