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Lower Limit Found For Sudoku Puzzle Clues

Posted by timothy on from the 17-ain't-young dept.

ananyo writes "An Irish mathematician has used a complex algorithm and millions of hours of supercomputing time to solve an important open problem in the mathematics of Sudoku, the game popularized in Japan that involves filling in a 9X9 grid of squares with the numbers 1–9 according to certain rules. Gary McGuire of University College Dublin shows in a proof posted online [PDF] that the minimum number of clues — or starting digits — needed to complete a puzzle is 17; puzzles with 16 or fewer clues do not have a unique solution. Most newspaper puzzles have around 25 clues, with the difficulty of the puzzle decreasing as more clues are given."

2 of 121 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Well this will solve world hunger. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Duh, Katy Perry isn't dating anyone. Russell only filed for divorce a week ago.

  2. Re:Well this will solve world hunger. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I wouldn't solve world hunger even if I knew how. This, on the other hand, is interesting. Fuck you.