How to Solve Sudoku Puzzles : X-Wing Strategy in Sudoku

Learn the x-wing for sudoku puzzles, with easy hints and help on how to get sudoku answers, in free math video. Expert: Stephen Kennedy Bio: Stephen Kennedy holds a major in Business Economics from Brock University. He has been solving Sudoku puzzles & teaching others how to play for 3 years. Filmmaker: Melissa Schenk

How To Teach Kids To Solve Sudoku Puzzles

How To To Puzzles

 

Sudoku puzzles are an extremely enjoyable and fascinating past time. At first glance these puzzles may not appear to be appropriate for kids. Sudoku puzzles look complicated and appear to require advanced math skills. However, neither of these assumptions is true.

Sudoku puzzles are totally appropriate for kids of all ages. Kids find sudoku puzzles fun and rewarding and won’t even realize that by completing puzzles they are boosting their mental capacity, increasing their concentration span and developing basic math and logic skills. 

To ensure kids get the most rewarding experience with sudoku, it is important to ensure children are only doing age appropriate puzzles. Kids quickly become frustrated and give up when given puzzles to attempt that are too difficult. It is equally important to ensure that kids are given simple, easy-to-follow instructions on how to properly attack and solve sudoku puzzles.

Objective of Sudoku 

Every sudoku puzzle is different, but the object of all is the same. Although they may have varying sizes and levels of difficulty every puzzle can be solved in the same way, following the same rules.  

The objective of all sudoku puzzles is to fill in the blank squares with the correct numeral. Figuring out the correct numeral can be the tricky part. However, there is a method which can be used to easily discover the correct answer for any puzzle. 

Explain to children that to correctly solve a sudoku puzzle the following rules must be adhered to:

• Every row of the puzzle must contain the numerals 1 – 9 

• Every column of the puzzle must contain the numerals 1 – 9

• Every sub-section of the puzzle must contain the numerals 1 – 9 

(Although the rules above use the example of a 9 x 9 puzzle, they apply to puzzles of all sizes, eg. a 4 x 4 puzzles would require each row, column and sub-section to contain the numerals 1 – 4.)

Tips to Help Kids Solve Sudoku Puzzles

One of the easiest ways to help kids with sudoku puzzles is to ensure they use a pencil. Mistakes, which are often made (not just by kids, adults too!), are so much easier to correct if a pencil has been used.

The best way for kids to start solving a sudoku puzzle is to look for limited squares. Limited squares are empty spaces for which there is only one possible answer. A limited square will usually occur because it is the only one left blank in a row, column or sub-section. 

Spaces which have only two possibilities are also quite easy to solve, so suggest children also look for these.

If children become stuck, suggest they write all the possibilities (possible answers for one particular empty square) in each empty space. Having the possible answers visible in each space often allow kids to see the correct answer more easily.

Puzzles get easier and easier to solve as more spaces are filled in.

With just a little help and a push in the right direction kids will be flying through sudoku puzzles, in no time, all on their own. 

Most importantly, encourage children to have fun with sudoku! You may just find kids develop a healthy addiction, which may just last a life-time. 

Brooke Watson uses Sudoku puzzles with kids to help them develop problem

solving skills, logical thinking and creativity while they have fun. She has

created a collection of sudoku number puzzles and word puzzles for children at

www.kids-sudoku-puzzles.com




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Solving Sudoku Puzzles -Solve This Addictive Game

Solving Sudoku - This Addictive

Solving Sudoku Puzzles is easy when you learn the secrets behind it. Remember the  
old rubik’s cube ? When it first came out people were stumped on solving it, however 
after all the tips and secrets behind it were finally revealed, solving it was easy.  
 
Solving Sudoku Is similar in that aspect, though if you are really stumped you can always use one of the many online sudoku solvers out there, But with any of the various sudoku tips or hints you may find on the net it will still take a small learning curve and practice to get the  various techniques under your belt. 
 
In this article we are going to take a look at one of the more common sudoku techniques people use  to successfully solve sudoku. You might have heard of it before, the technique I’m referring  to is called cross hatching. 
 
Cross hatching is a common technique that you can use to help you solve sudoku puzzles.  
It can be used in solving every kind of sudoku, whether that be an easy level puzzle or  
for the more adventurous a killer sudoku. 
 
To effectively use Cross hatching start by scanning the different rows and columns  
of your sudoku puzzle to see if any region needs a certain number by using the process  
of elimination. This technique has also been called “slicing and dicing” when it involves  
more than two separate rows or columns.  
 
You just scan your sudoku row to row finding the Easy “givens” and than simply repeat  
this process of elimination for every row and column on the sudoku grid, by scanning  
for the numbers from 1 to 9 in order. 
 
Some people find reversing the order and scanning from nine to 1 helpful to identify some 
numbers they might have overlooked, but once you’ve completed the cross hatching technique you will be ready to move to more advanced strategies. 
 
Learning to solve sudoku is kind of like riding a bike, at first it seems difficult but 
the more you play and practice the easier the puzzle will become. 

David Meade is an avid sudoku fan and operates an online sudoku solver website for other fans of this wonderful game. Visit his site at sudoku solver or learn more sudoku hints and tips at sudoku hints


Article from articlesbase.com

Learn the multi-line for solving sudoku puzzles, with easy solving hints and help on how to get sudoku answers, in this free math game video. Expert: Stephen Kennedy Bio: Stephen Kennedy holds a major in Business Economics from Brock University. He has been solving Sudoku puzzles & teaching others how to play for 3 years. Filmmaker: Melissa Schenk

Efficient sudoku solving methods

solving sudokuThese methods of are run according to the degree of complexity – if any of these solutions change the solution grid then the solver has to go back to the first solving method and start anew.

Every time a particular method is used, points are counted as ‘difficulty score’ to provide a degree of difficulty for that particular sudoku.

Sudoku Solving Methods

Solving Method A
Find a place in the solution grid to see if there is any number that appears only once. If there is, the box that contains that appearance of the number must be the solution. rule is applied to the columns or blocks.

Scoring Difficulty = 4

Sudoku Solving Method B
Search the rows in the grid to see if there are numbers that appear only once in a block. That number should be in that place, thus one must remove that number from the other boxes in the block. Repeat for columns.

Same logic, but in reverse – look at solution numbers in the grid blocks to see if there are numbers that only occur once in a particular row or column. That number should be in the block, so eliminate the number from the boxes in the rows and columns from outside that block.

Scoring Difficulty = 8
Solving Method C
Find a place in the solutions grid where there is a number that appears only twice in that row. If the boxes in which the number appears  match another number that satisfies this criterion, then those boxes should contain that number pair – so eliminate the other options in those boxes. Similarly, this procedure is repeated for columns and blocks. This method is repeated for triplets and higher.

Scoring Difficulty = 16
D Solving Method
Find a place in the solution grid to see if there is any row containing any group of N boxes containing N possible numbers. If such a “chain” exists, then those boxes should contain the numbers, so we can remove these numbers from other boxes in the row.

This process is repeated for columns and blocks.

Solve sudoku the easy way by taking a look at these simple tricks!

Diet by playing and solving sudoku?

sudokuHave you ever thought that could be a sport? Games help you burn calories even when sitting in an armchair or solving them in the office.

In an attempt to attract more visitors, the owners of a site that sells memory and mental agility games, announced that such activities help to lose weight. Even if you do not burn as many calories as a at the gym, the game requires an effort on the part of the brain, so it provides an increased rate of calorie burning!

Just to “survive”, the burns 0.1 calories per minute, and if you sudoku, crosswords, puzzles or other games like that, the brain starts to burn 1.5 calories per minute. In an hour you can get to 90 calories burned.

The brain consists of billions of nerve cells – neurons, which transmit messages to the body via neurotransmitter substances. But for that, the neurons require glucose, calories and oxygen.

“The brain works like any other body part. If it works hard it needs more energy, so it consumes calories” , say researchers.

The sellers of the games mental agility games say that you can easily get slimmer by solving puzzles, if this activity is combined with a mild diet.

But not everyone agrees with that. Specialists from the British Nutrition Association say that, indeed calorie intake is greater when we think hard, but it is impossible to lose weight this way. Diet and sport remain the only ways to lose weight according to them.