Su Doku Demystified
The “How to” Book to Understand and Solve Su Doku puzzles
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
WHAT IS SU DOKU?
The point of the puzzle is to fill in the grid so that every row, every column, and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9. There’s no math involved. The grid has numbers, but nothing has to add up to anything else. You solve the puzzle with reasoning and logic.
GRIDS, GRID LINES, BOXES AND CELLS
A puzzle grid is 9 cells wide by 9 cells tall. The main grid is divided into 9 BOXES which are 3 cells wide by 3 cells high. The LEFT UPPER BOX has been shaded in the grid below. (illustration)
Grid lines can be rows (numbered a-i above) or columns (numbered 1-9 above).
GETTING STARTED
There’s no right or wrong place to start, but there are some basics that you have to learn before you can begin. You will read different books about how to solve Su Doku puzzles. This book is different. I will actually teach you my method for solving the puzzles. My method allows for absolutely NO guessing. You will not need to guess after you have mastered my techniques. In my sample puzzles, I will show you where to look and what to look at for your clues.
PUZZLE DIFFICULTY
Puzzles are rated according to difficulty. The standard is 1-5 stars. In this book I will take you through puzzles that have been rated at each different star level. You will see the degree of difficulty increase with the number of stars. However, the techniques to solve all of the puzzles are the same that you will learn. Usually the most difficult puzzles only have 3 or 4 difficult moves. I have always been able to solve a puzzle without guessing using the techniques in this book, however sometimes I have to put a puzzle down and pick it back up in order to “see” the next move. The more puzzles you do, the better you will get at this.
I like to solve the puzzle by thinking about where numbers can NOT go. By eliminating those cells where numbers can not go you will often see whether a single cell will emerge as the ONLY cell where the number can go. The easiest puzzles will allow you to do this by only looking at a single grid line of BOXES, either a row or a column.
With a Single Grid Line Placement maneuver, look for a single number appearing twice in a grid line (row or column). In the example above, just looking at the left column grid line of boxes, 9 appears twice as does 1. As I have said before, it doesn’t matter where you start but to make a point, I will start with the 9
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About the Book
This book is unique amongst the many books on SuDoku. Dr. Dresnick has developed techniques to solve puzzles at all levels of complexity using deductive reasoning. Unlike many books which use look at all of the possibile locations where numbers CAN go, Dr. Dresnick's techniques are based on determining where numbers can NOT go, thus arriving at the correct number without guessing!
About the Author
Stephen Dresnick, MD received his undergraduate degree in Chemistry from the University of North Carolina and his medical degree from the University of Miami School of Medicine. After a successful career in academic medicine, at Orlando Regional Medical Center, Dr. Dresnick entered the business world by starting Sterling Healthcare, a company which he took public in 1994 and sold in 1996. Dr. Dresnick resides in Coral Gables, Florida and spends his time writing and investing in healthcare companies.