A Formula Now For Solving Sudoku Puzzles

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An emeritus professor in South Carolina, James Crook has derived a formula for working out Sudoku puzzles withdrawing the fun involved in doing the puzzle.

He is to publish his pen-and-paper algorithm for solving Sudoku puzzles" on the website of American Mathematical Society.

The algorithm of Crook is made up of five logical steps.

However the algoritham of Crook does not come as an exciting factor to the Sudoku fans.

Colin Dexter, author of the Inspector Morse crime novels and a puzzle enthusiast, said: "I'm sorry to hear somebody's discovered how to do it. It's like using a computer program to work out crossword anagrams it takes all the fun and struggle out of it."

According to the words of Dr Gareth Moore, compiler of puzzles for Sudoku Pro magazine : "Crook's algorithm might work, but the fun of Sudoku is the logical thinking by which you turn an intimidating problem into an enjoyable exercise."

The Crook algorithm comes as the first mathematical proof, a formula for solving Sudoku puzzles. His system requires players to fill up empty cells in a Sudoku grid with all possible remaining numbers and, by comparing number sets, to labour through a "tree" of options that ultimately provides a solution.

However, the method also comes with a draw back that it takes quiet a bit of a time of about an hour to solve the puzzle when it requires only a maximum of 20 minutes to solve it through logic and intuition.

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