Mathematical puzzle

Mathematical puzzles make up an integral part of recreational mathematics. They have specific rules, but they do not usually involve competition between two or more players. Instead, to solve such a puzzle, the solver must find a solution that satisfies the given conditions. Mathematical puzzles require mathematics to solve them. Logic puzzles are a common type of mathematical puzzle. Conway's Game of Life and fractals, as two examples, may also be considered mathematical puzzles even though the solver interacts with them only at the beginning by providing a set of initial conditions. After these conditions are set, the rules of the puzzle determine all subsequent changes and moves. Many of the puzzles are well known because they were discussed by Martin Gardner in his "Mathematical Games" column in Scientific American. Mathematical puzzles are sometimes used to motivate students in teaching elementary school math problem solving techniques. Creative thinking - or "thinking outside the box" - often helps to find the solution. This list is not complete. Cross-figures or cross number puzzles Dyson numbers Four fours KenKen Water pouring puzzle The monkey and the coconuts Pirate loot problem Verbal arithmetics 24 Game Cryptograms Fifteen Puzzle Kakuro Rubik's Cube and other sequential movement puzzles Str8ts a number puzzle based on sequences Sudoku Sujiko Think-a-Dot Tower of Hanoi Bridges Game Ant on a rubber rope See also: Zeno's paradoxes Monty Hall problem Bedlam cube Conway puzzle Mutilated chessboard problem Packing problem Pentominoes tiling Slothouber–Graatsma puzzle Soma cube T puzzle Tangram Conway's Game of Life Mutilated chessboard problem Peg solitaire Sudoku Nine dots problem Eight queens puzzle Knight's Tour No-three-in-line problem The fields of knot theory and topology, especially their non-intuitive conclusions, are often seen as a part of recreational mathematics. Disentanglement puzzles Seven Bridges of Königsberg Water, gas, and electricity Slitherlink Mechanical puzzle Rubik's Cube Think-a-Dot

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Puzzle

A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together (or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at the correct or fun solution of the puzzle. There are different genres of puzzles, such as crossword puzzles, word-search puzzles, number puzzles, relational puzzles, and logic puzzles. The academic study of puzzles is called enigmatology. Puzzles are often created to be a form of entertainment but they can also arise from serious mathematical or logical problems.

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Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914 May 22, 2010) was an American popular mathematics and popular science writer with interests also encompassing scientific skepticism, micromagic, philosophy, religion, and literature - especially the writings of Lewis Carroll, L. Frank Baum, and G. K. Chesterton. He was also a leading authority on Lewis Carroll. The Annotated Alice, which incorporated the text of Carroll's two Alice books, was his most successful work and sold over a million copies.

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