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School of Mathematical Sciences

Copson Lecture, St Andrews

Published:

Peter Cameron, "Sudoku and Mathematics", 14th Dec

 

The Copson Lecture 2009
Prof Peter Cameron (QMUL)

SUDOKU AND MATHEMATICS

5.30 Monday 14th December
Physics Lecture Theatre A
University of St Andrews

This lecture is aimed at a general audience and all are welcome

Prof Cameron sums it up as follows.

In the Independent newspaper, the instructions for Sudoko say There's no
maths involved. You solve the puzzle with reasoning and logic. But, as any
mathematician will tell you, maths is just reasoning and logic! There is
indeed quite a lot of mathematics in Sudoku. In the lecture, I will explain
some of the history, and show that mathematicians and statisticians could
have invented Sudoku years before the retired architect Howard Garns
actually did. Time permitting, I will also talk about a variant called
Symmetric Sudoku invented by Robert Connelly, which is closely connected
with error-correcting codes and finite geometry.

tinyurl.com/copson2009

 

 

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