Extreme Sudoku For Dummies:Book Information - For Dummies
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Andrew Heron, Andrew Stuart
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ISBN: 978-0-470-11627-2
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Business, Investing & Careers
360 pages
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November 2006 US $9.99
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Electronics Have you worn out all of your pencils mastering ever-changing Sudoku puzzles? Have you stepped up your game to the next
Fitness
level and now seek something a little more demanding? Do you crave the challenge of more cunning, deadly Sudoku?
Games Green Living
Extreme Sudoku For Dummies features 236 beyond diabolical puzzles to challenge even the most skilled expert—perfect for
Health
anyone who wants to be a true Sudoku master. In this book you will not only discover some amazingly tricky Sudoku puzzles, but
Home & Garden Music
also face new challenges in the form of Killer Sudoku, Irregular Sudoku, and other recently developed variations. And you won't need to rely on guesswork—you'll find an easy-to-understand, logical approach that will help you tackle even the most difficult puzzles in the book. Extreme Sudoku For Dummies offers:
Para Dummies Parenting
An overview of Sudoku basics
Pets
Variations such as 9 x 9, 12 x 12, 16 x 16, jigsaw, circular, and killer puzzles
Religion & Inspiration
Useful strategies to filter out candidates and solve puzzles, one step at a time
Self-Help & Relationships
techniques
The lowdown on advanced strategies such as Naked Pairs, Naked Triplets, Hidden Pairs, X-Wing, Y-Wing, and other Time completion estimates so that you can use the clock to measure your progress and ability
Sports Along with a wealth of puzzles that will test every Sudoku player's skill, Extreme Sudoku For Dummies provides the tips, tricks,
Travel
advice, and strategies to help you become a true master of the game.
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Su Doku for Dummies:Book Information and Code Download - For Dummies
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Su Doku for Dummies Andrew Heron, Edmund James ISBN: 978-0-470-01892-7 Paperback 336 pages July 2005 US $9.99
Description Download
Table of Contents
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Su Doku For Dummies offers more puzzles than any other book available. This pocket-sized guide to the biggest craze for Summer 2005 features: * Easy to follow illustrated instructions * Guidance on how to play the game and different strategies to tackle the puzzles * 240 addictive new puzzles from basic to fiendish This guide is perfect for newcomers to Su Doku as well as experienced Su Doku players looking to improve their game and addicts who just can't get enough new puzzles!!! Su Doku (or Sudoku) has been dubbed the Rubik's Cube of the 21st century, it’s a cryptic and highly addictive puzzle that involves inserting numbers in a 9x9 grid and making sure that every row and every column and every 3x3 box within the bigger grid contains all the digits from one to nine. All it takes is the ability to identify the numerals 1-9, a sense for logic, a methodical cast of mind and a large measure of application to boot. You can get better and quicker, if you put your mind to it. And there is no predicting who will excel: you can be a disaster at maths and a whiz at Su Doku!
Copyright © 2009 & Trademark by Wiley Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.
http://www.dummies.com/store/product/Su-Doku-for-Dummies.productCd-0470018925,na...
1/2/2009
Su Doku for Dummies:Book Information and Code Download - For Dummies
Your Account
Go to Dummies.com
Store
Su Doku for Dummies
Shopping Cart
Read an Excerpt
Andrew Heron, Edmund James
All Titles
Store Help
Arts & Photography
ISBN: 978-0-470-01892-7
Read Excerpt: Chapter (PDF)
Automotive
Paperback
Read Excerpt: Table of Contents (PDF)
Business, Investing & Careers
336 pages
Computers & Internet
Download Acrobat
July 2005 US $9.99
Add to Cart
Larger Image
Cooking & Entertaining Crafts & Hobbies Education
Description
Table of Contents
Author Information
Reviews
Download
Electronics Fitness
Su Doku For Dummies offers more puzzles than any other book available.
Games
This pocket-sized guide to the biggest craze for Summer 2005 features:
Green Living
* Easy to follow illustrated instructions
Health
* Guidance on how to play the game and different strategies to tackle the puzzles
Home & Garden Music
* 240 addictive new puzzles from basic to fiendish
Para Dummies
This guide is perfect for newcomers to Su Doku as well as experienced Su Doku players looking to improve their game and
Parenting
addicts who just can't get enough new puzzles!!!
Pets
Su Doku (or Sudoku) has been dubbed the Rubik's Cube of the 21st century, it’s a cryptic and highly addictive puzzle that
Religion & Inspiration
involves inserting numbers in a 9x9 grid and making sure that every row and every column and every 3x3 box within the bigger grid contains all the digits from one to nine.
Self-Help & Relationships
All it takes is the ability to identify the numerals 1-9, a sense for logic, a methodical cast of mind and a large measure of
Sports
be a disaster at maths and a whiz at Su Doku!
application to boot. You can get better and quicker, if you put your mind to it. And there is no predicting who will excel: you can
Travel
Printer-ready version |
About For Dummies
Subscribe or Unsubscribe to E-Mail Newsletters
My Account
Store
Explore the New Dummies.com Privacy Policy
Terms and Conditions
Advertise with Us
Contact Us
Copyright © 2009 & Trademark by Wiley Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.
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AL
Chapter 1
TE
RI
Simplifying Su Doku
T
MA
his part covers a few of the su doku-solving ground rules, giving you all the tools you need to approach each puzzle with the best strategy.
D
Understanding the Rules
RI
GH
TE
A blank su doku grid like the one in Figure 1-1 consists of a grid of nine rows and nine columns subdivided into nine 3 × 3 subgrids. Throughout this book we refer to a square by its coordinates – row first, then column: 1,3 is the top row, third square from the left and 9,8 the bottom row, 8 squares from the left. We refer to a 3 × 3 subgrid as a box, numbered as shown in Figure 1-1.
PY
Su doku has two simple rules:
CO
Each column, each row, and each box must contain each of the numbers 1 to 9. Therefore, no column, row, or box can contain two squares with the same number.
6
Part I: Su Doku Strategy
Figure 1-1: A blank su doku showing grid coordinates and box numbers.
Getting Down to Basics Each puzzle starts with a set of clue numbers placed on the grid as shown in Figure 1-2. Logic is all you need to solve a su doku. No addition, subtraction, division, or multiplication is required. However, you do need to ask yourself questions like ‘If so-and-so number is in this column, will such-and-such number go
Chapter 1: Simplifying Su Doku
7
in this other box?’ Your answer to these questions will always be either ‘yes’, ‘no’, or ‘maybe’. When the going gets a little tougher – if you’re working on a more difficult puzzle – you may find yourself asking more complex logic questions, but for now let’s just stick to the basics. Use a pencil and eraser. Solving su doku, especially the more difficult puzzles, requires you to make notes of optional numbers. These notes change as the puzzle progresses, so you need to rub them out where you’ve solved – or partially solved – any numbers.
Figure 1-2: A moderately difficult su doku. Tempted?
8
Part I: Su Doku Strategy
Taking the puzzle in pieces Your first tip to getting started with a su doku: Don’t try to look at the whole grid at first. Take the puzzle in sections, as we’ve done in Figure 1-3. You could try using a sheet of paper to help blank off the part of the grid you aren’t looking at.
Figure 1-3: Look at a su doku in sections rather than trying to work out the whole puzzle at first glance.
Chapter 1: Simplifying Su Doku
9
As you can see in the first three columns, you have a 9 in box 1 and a 9 in box 7, but no 9 in box 4. The 9 in column 2 precludes any 9 appearing in column 2 of box 4, and the 9 in column 3 stops a 9 being placed at column 3 of box 4. That means that the 9 of box 4 has to be in column 1, but could appear in either of two squares. We’ve shown these options as small numbers in the corner of the squares. Throughout this tutorial we indicate these options in the same way – as small numbers in the corner of the squares.
Looking at the (slightly) bigger picture ‘Well,’ you might say, ‘looking at one column solves nothing.’ But wait . . . By revealing the next column, as in Figure 1-4, you expose a 9 in row 6. Obviously, with a 9 in this row, the option of 9 in box 4 at row 6 has been disproved, and the option can be erased. The 9 has to go in the only other available square at row 4, column 1 (or square 4,1). This is our first solved number. Whew! That wasn’t so difficult, was it?
Solving for the second number The fewer empty squares you have in any box, row, or column, the better your chances of proving the empty squares, so look for the most populated rows, columns, and boxes. For example, concentrate on the middle three rows. You have a 6 in box 5 and a 6 in box 6, but no 6 in box 4, so that seems like a good number to focus on.
