![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/files\/2017\/01\/Rubik-Cube_square-150x150.jpg\")
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Are you addicted to Sudoku? Rubik’s Cube\u00a9<\/sup> ? Logic puzzles?<\/p>\n Well, you are in luck, because —<\/p>\n <\/p>\n SO many puzzles! Where does one even begin!?<\/p>\n How about Tic-Tac-Toe!\u00a0 How much time did you spend playing tick-tac-toe when you were a kid? \u00a0Did you realize the person who had the first go was at a disadvantage? The first player\u00a0actually has to draw one connecting line longer than the opponent. \u00a0So, if you are the first to go and still win, that’s impressive! If you add more squares – say 18 – there are 153 connecting lines. Which means there are 3153<\/sup> game situations – roughly equivalent to the number of particles in the universe. Searching for a winning strategy is quite impossible and sometimes referred to as “computational chaos.” I had trouble winning with just 9 squares….<\/p>\n Another popular grid puzzle is Sudoku. The most common version of the puzzle consists of 9 squares by 9 squares – a grid of 81 squares. The grid is divided into 9 blocks, each containing 9 squares. The rules: each of the 9 blocks must contain all the numbers 1 – 9 within the squares. Each number can only appear once in a row, column or box. The tricky part is that each vertical 9-square column or horizontal 9-square line – within the larger square – must also contain each of the numbers 1 – 9, with no repeats… Each puzzle has only one solution…<\/p>\n Each of the 4 rings and 8 quarter circles have the numbers 1 through 8 (unlike the square version which has 9). Of course, you can always have 3-ring puzzles, or 5 and 6 ring puzzles.\u00a0Variants and puzzles can be found in\u00a0Nets, Puzzles, and Postmen<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n How many of us have tried to solve the Rubik’s Cube\u00a9<\/sup> ?<\/p>\n The classic Rubik’s Cube\u00a9<\/sup> consists\u00a0 <\/span>of 26 cubelets on 3 levels. Each level of cubelets can be twisted by 90 or 180 degrees. If you twist the layers independently the cube can be brought into approximately 43 million, trillion possible states of the cube (yes, really 43 million trillion!) … The goal? Make each side of nine cubelets the same color. Tomas Rokicki, a Stanford trained mathematician, ran a program on the supercomputer at Sony Pictures Imageworks. The computing time required the equivalent of 50 years of computing – and with solving more than 25 million billion configurations none were recorded that required fewer than 22 moves. Are you able to do it in 22 moves? Are you able to do it in fewer<\/em> than 22 moves?<\/p>\n Are you able to solve it in a minute and a half? This robot made with Legos\u00a9<\/sup> and Raspberry Pi (we have the Raspberry Pi 2 in our Tool Library<\/a>!) can!<\/p>\n \nSunday, January 29th, 2017 is National Puzzle Day!!<\/h3>\n
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Nothing is a difficult as it seems<\/div>\n<\/li>\nNothing is as easy as it looks<\/div>\n<\/li>\nPuzzles always have\u00a0one<\/strong>, several<\/strong>, or\u00a0no<\/strong> solutions<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n(Gianni A. Sarcone in the introduction to\u00a0Impossible Folding Puzzles and Other Mathematical Paradoxes<\/em><\/a>)<\/sup><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/files\/2017\/01\/TicTacToe.png\")
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<\/a>If that isn’t challenging enough, there are also\u00a0circular Sudoku puzzles!<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/files\/2017\/01\/Rubik-Cube.jpg\")
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