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DOI: 10.1201/9781003214335-4

Explore Your

Deductive Logic

Solve a Sudoku Forever

The concept of Sudoku is attributed to Euler who lived in the 18th century and was

responsible for famous mathematical inventions, including the constant e which

is named after him. He solved the famous Basel problem and was responsible for

defining a function with the term f(x) and developing the Power series:

e

x

n

x

x

x

n

x

n

n

n

n

=

=

+

+

+

+



^



^

→∞

=

∞

∑

!

lim

!

!

!

!

0

2

1

0

1

2



Sudoku is based on the concept of a Latin square that Euler discovered—​an N by

N matrix that has exactly one occurrence of N symbols in any row or column, an

example with A, B, C below.

The aim of Sudoku is to place the digits 1 to 9 in a 9 by 9 grid so that each digit ap­

pears exactly once in each row, each column, and each of the nine 3 by 3 sub-​grids

in the 9 by 9 grid.

FIGURE 3.1  Sudoku.

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