AI Sudoku

Puzzles Puzzle 1: History Lesson (numbers) Puzzle Solution Puzzle 2: CSP Pioneer (letters) Puzzle Solution Crosswords

Related AI Topics Pages

• Constraint-Based Reasoning
• Traveling Salesperson and NP-Complete Problems
  • Did you know that a Sudoku puzzle grid is a Latin Square!

Related Resources

• Addicted to Sudoku - How the game can help your health, your brain and your self-image. An interview with Will Shortz (crossword editor for The New York Times) by Jessica Bennett. Newsweek (February 24, 2006) / available from MSNBC.com.
• An Interactive Constraint-Based Approach to Sudoku. By Christopher Reeson, Ken Bayer, Berthe Y. Choueiry, and Kai-Chen Huang. In Proceedings of the Twenty-Second National Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 1976 - 1977. Menlo Park, Calif.: AAAI Press (2007). Abstract: "We present a Java applet, Solver, that allows a user to interactively solve a Sudoku problem using Constraint Processing (CP) techniques. We also present a companion Java applet, Constructor, that allows human users to enter and store new puzzle instances. Our system showcases the power of CP techniques in solving problems through a widely familiar and easily approachable puzzle. Our Solver is built to maximize the interactions between the human users and CP techniques. It allows the users to apply different consistency algorithms, work specifically on certain constraints, and make assignments and domain reductions on their own. We also designed a hint functionality that uses increasingly complex propagation algorithms, in a controlled manner, to guide the users and train them playing the game."
• Sci-Doku puzzles by Patrick Merrell are available from ScientificAmerican.com and "[use] letters instead of numbers, with an added twist: a science-related clue accompanies each puzzle and the answer is spelled out in one row or column of the puzzle."
• Solving Every Sudoku Puzzle. By Peter Norvig. "In this essay I tackle the problem of solving every Sudoku puzzle. It turns out to be quite easy (about 100 lines of code) using two ideas: constraint propagation and search."
• Sudoku.com: Wayne Gould's site
• Sudoku links from Sudoku Online & Sudoku.org.uk
• Sudoku Science. By Lauren Aaronson. IEEE Spectrum (February 2006). 
• Sudoku Solver by Logic