Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T10:02:57.065Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sudoku strategies using graph theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 August 2024

Jeff Brown
Jeff Brown*
Affiliation:
UNCW Mathematics and Statistics Department, 601 South College Road, Wilmington, NC 28403 USA e-mail: [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

In this paper we discuss sudoku-solving strategies and how graph theory can be used to explain some of the advanced techniques. There are many websites that provide tutorials on solving sudoku puzzles. The sites [1] and [2] discuss the xy-chain technique, and the two explanations are quite different. We will define xy-chains as paths in a graph, and properties of the paths show why the technique works.

Type
Articles
Information
The Mathematical Gazette , Volume 108 , Issue 572 , July 2024 , pp. 275 - 282
Check for updates
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Authors, 2024 Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Mathematical Association

References

solver, Sudoku, XY-Chain, accessed November 2023 at: https://sudokusolver.app/xychain.htmlGoogle Scholar
Stuart, Andrew, XY-Chains accessed November 2023 at: https://www.sudokuwiki.org/XY_ChainsGoogle Scholar
Crute, T. D. and Myers, S. A., Sudoku puzzles as chemistry learning tools, Journal of Chemical Education 84 (April 2007) pp. 612–613.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brophy, C. and Hahn, L., Engaging students in a large lecture: an experiment using sudoku puzzles, Journal of Statistics Education, 22(1) (2014).Google Scholar
Snyder, B. A., Using sudoku to introduce proof techniques, PRIMUS 20(5) (2010) pp. 383–391.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herzberg, A. M. and Murty, M. R., Sudoku squares and chromatic polynomials. Notices of the AMS 54(6) (2007) pp. 708–717.Google Scholar
Bondy, J. A. and Murty, U. S. R., Graph theory with applications, Macmillan (1976).CrossRefGoogle Scholar