Sunday 19 February 2012

Numbers numbers numbers!







This week in boredom prevention

Sudoku

In my world, sitting still is a relatively rare occurrence. But when I do sit, I am either sleeping or fidgeting. I discovered Sudoku in high school when my grade 12 math teacher realized that I was much more interested in Sudoku than calculus and she gave me the puzzles for bonus marks. Sudoku and I have had an on-again off-again relationship ever since. Winter and exam periods are usually an on-again period for us, whereas we spend summer and weekends apart.

There’s an app for that! Having Sudoku on my phone has made my fidgety fingers quite satisfied in those moments of boredom and I thank Apple for that. Plus, it was free!

A Sudoku-like puzzle first appeared in La France newspaper in 1895 and it almost resembled the modern Sudoku. There’s something to be said for a puzzle that has been in newspapers for more than a century. There are many variations of Sudoku, including: mini Sudoku, cross sums Sudoku, killer Sudoku (YIKES!), photo Sudoku, alphabetical Sudoku, and hypersudoku. Boy, do I need to start broadening my Sudoku horizons.

The puzzles are a great way to put your logic skills to the test, and I highly recommend them to anyone who has trouble sitting still. The little puzzle invented in 1895 will certainly come in handy on my flight to Jamaica this week!

Happy solving.

5 comments:

  1. Very interesting, even though I don't like Sudoku .. or numbers.

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  2. Justin, you're crazy, Sudoku is great! Your teacher gave you sudoku as homework? That's a pretty awesome teacher.

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  3. I would probably have to use one of your other blog posts if Sudoku was put in front of me. I was given a Sudoku book for christmas as a secret santa one year and for the life of me I could not get through one of the puzzle.

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  4. I have tried sodoku before and I can never finish it. I feel as though it might end up making me either more bored or frustrated.

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  5. Sudoku puzzles are the most frustrating activity yet so rewarding when you complete one!

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