Yesterday I read an article in USA TODAY about "the first mathematically guaranteed way of solving the puzzles;" see http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/mathscience/2009-03-15-sudoku-secret_N.htm. It reminded me of an interesting old forum thread: http://www.jsoftware.com/pipermail/programming/2005-December/thread.html#298 (see also http://www.vector.org.uk/archive/v214/sudoku.htm) and a hint from an academic female adviser "It is not just about laying the eggs; you must know how to cluck them."
In any case, it seems to me that the 'way' should be qualified, in some sense, as 'implementable;' otherwise, there is an obvious "mathematically guaranteed way of solving the puzzles" in principle. Is there not? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
