Comments on: Math and Sudoku

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 19:58:01 +0000

I have a neat Sudoku applicationfor Windows, it includes the abilityto create a puzzle to solve on a PC,store, or EMail it. It has featuresincluding HINT and AUTOSOLVE, coloring, etc. Contact me atervnork@excite.com and I’ll Emaila Zip file to you with Demo puzzlesincluded.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 06:41:54 +0000

A great site to teach you the various techniques to solve Sudoku puzzles is < HREF="http://www.sudokulearningcenter.com" REL="nofollow">Sudoku Learning Center<>It has great web based online tutorials on the various techniques, a graphical interface to give hints and show the techniques, and specially constructed puzzles to focus on the individual techniques.Try it out and see what you think.

By: Abednego

Abednego — Wed, 11 Jan 2006 16:07:09 +0000

First of all, I don’t think it’s fair to blame computer games for lack of interest in math, but that’s a topic for a different and very heated discussion.I can tell you how my dad got me interested in math and computer science. Once in a while, he would give me a book and say, “This is cool; see if you like it.” Many of them ended up on my favourites list. Here are a few.H. Dudeney, < HREF="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006BQK8O/qid=1136995018/sr=8-3/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i3_xgl14/103-3479146-0640602?n=507846&s=books&v=glance" REL="nofollow">536 puzzles and curious problems<>, a couple of book my Martin Gardner (on was called “Tic Tac Toe”) and a book by Raymond Smullian called “Princess or Tiger”. All of them were Russian translations, so I might be off on the titles.And I wasn’t an avid reader. These books and whatever was assigned to us at school were pretty much the only ones I would read, so even if your kids hate reading, it’s worth a try. I’m certainly glad my dad pointed them out. I must have been 6 or 7 back then.

By: twidjaja

twidjaja — Wed, 11 Jan 2006 02:44:05 +0000

Kurt: I have let Igor know about your kind words – he will appreciate that.Anyway, I have noticed several postings in the blogsphere (including your blog, Suresh’s, and Lance’s) on how to popularize complexity theory to general audience. I am interested in something related: how to get kids interested in math and science (including computer science, physics, or even cosmology). These days many kids are spoiled by video games, etc. leaving very little room for curiosity about math and science. Since you have kids and are interested in a related issue, I’m sure you have some advice or pointers to useful discussion.

By: Kurt

Kurt — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 04:12:33 +0000

Hi Anthony,Thanks for the link. I should have thought of checking there; one of the things Wikipedia excels at is new or rapidly changing information.By the way, I noticed on Logicomp your pointer to Igor Naverniouk. I really dig his new < HREF="http://trueai.blogspot.com/" REL="nofollow">blog<>'s aesthetics!

By: twidjaja

twidjaja — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 00:36:47 +0000

Kurt: I think the game is too new, and probably no one has written a book on the mathematics of sudoku. A good account on the subject is probably wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematics_of_Sudoku.What else?

By: Kurt

Kurt — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 05:06:29 +0000

Kristin, thanks for that link. I haven’t had a chance to read through all of it yet, but so far it’s very interesting. I was somewhat surprized to see that there are a number of open questions regarding Sudoku mathematics. Even something as seemingly simple as counting the number of possible configurations requires a brute-force enumeration.Your SudokuLinks site is also very nice.

By: KristinW

KristinW — Fri, 06 Jan 2006 07:48:31 +0000

I'm not aware of any books, but there is an examination of the mathematics of sudoku here:http://theory.tifr.res.in/~sgupta/sudoku/algo.htmlKristinW< HREF="http://www.sudokulinks.com" REL="nofollow">SudokuLinks<>