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Re: Sudoku puzzle

• To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
• Subject: [mg58392] Re: Sudoku puzzle
• From: Scott Hemphill <hemphill at hemphills.net>
• Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2005 04:37:28 -0400 (EDT)
• References: <d9r4vd$560$1@smc.vnet.net> <d9tco2$388$1@smc.vnet.net>
• Reply-to: hemphill at alumni.caltech.edu
• Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com

Paul Abbott <paul at physics.uwa.edu.au> writes:

> The solutions by Fred Simons and Andrzej Kozlowski (previously posted to 
> MathGroup) involving backtracking work fine (I did not select their 
> solutions for TMJ because it did not show progress towards the solution) 
> -- but I wonder if for the sudoku puzzles whether backtracking is ever 
> required?

Backtracking is not required because you can (in principle) generate a list
of all possible puzzles, along with their answers.  Then your code can
look like:

  If[puzzle == puzzle1, Return[answer1]]
  If[puzzle == puzzle2, Return[answer2]]
  ...

So the question should be what minimum logical complexity (under some
defined metric) is required to avoid backtracking.

Scott
-- 
Scott Hemphill	hemphill at alumni.caltech.edu
"This isn't flying.  This is falling, with style."  -- Buzz Lightyear