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Sudoku, the New Rage
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Misc
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By Vanes63
Posted Thu Aug 18, 2005 at 03:07:32 PM PDT
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Euler gives us yet another thing to scratch our heads about. According to a Wilkipedia article on Sudoku it all starts with Euler. This articles leads one to an online article from The Observer that states, "The Sudoku story began in 1783 when Leonhard Euler, a Swiss mathematician, devised 'Latin Squares', which he described as 'a new kind of magic squares'. Euler had come up with a grid in which every number or symbol appears once in each row or column. More than two centuries later, the difference for Sudoku players is that the grid is subdivided into blocks of nine."
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Countries and computers rage over the new fad, playing Sudoku. While some may argue that it requires little more than trial and error, programmers have created many a program that would argue otherwise. Either way, sudoku has taken the world by storm.
Considering how common it is to "hate" mathematics, it is strangely eerie how this puzzle, which revolves around the placement of numbers, arbitrary symbols, in slots depending on the row, column and block of 9 they are in. Each 3 x 3 block, usually outlined darker than other lines, can contain only one 1, one 2, one 3 and so on up until 9. Each row and column works the same way. Doesn't this sound like a linear relation to anyone else?
How can this game be so popular but it is often so difficult for others to appreciate any type of mathematics?
Some say Sudoku is the new crossword puzzle, taking magazine stands by surprise and bringing puzzle magazine sales up.
For programmers, this has become a new test of your programming skills. While solving these puzzles, I developed my own algorithm for a sure-fire solution, but I was not alone. Try doing a google search for "Sudoku algorithm" or "Sudoku solver" and you'll find thousands of hits.
Some popular sites to play on are Sudoku.com and Mousebreaker.com. |
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