sudoku puzzles [I Like Math]

i've started showing an interest in sudoku puzzles and i'm trying to figure the quickest way to solve them. these are the puzzles that have a larger 3 by 3 set of boxes and each of these 9 larger boxes is further made up of a 3 by 3 set inside them. this gives the whole puzzle a total of 9 rows by 9 columns. when the puzzle is complete each row, column, and larger box must contain only one instance of the numbers 1-9. hope that made sense.

other than viewing each row and column to find the puzzle area that has the most numbers already filled in and then working out from there, has anyone developed a better way of starting these puzzles? thanks.

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fun4us2b · M

I first find all the 1s, 2s, 3s, etc - then do the 9 boxes individually - then I look for number pairs to reduce the open squares...then repeat...it's fun, practice makes you faster...

SW-User

@fun4us2b thanks that sounds very helpful. i've recently become very interested in these because they are fun and i'm curious about the mathematics behind them.

fun4us2b · M

@SW-User I always wondered how the puzzles are created, and how they know there's enough clues shown to find a solution.

SW-User

@fun4us2b my best guess is that they complete the puzzle and then remove the right amount of numbers. i'm not sure how many that would be, but if you spend enough time with these puzzles there always seems to be enough clues to complete them. i bet a computer could create these randomly if you knew how to program this.

fun4us2b · M

@SW-User I bet that's how most are made at this point, I imagine there's a finite possible number of puzzles - probably published online somewhere...

LamontCranston · M

@SW-User There are NO mathematics behind them. It is pure logic. The numbers could have been letters A, B, etc, instead.
One of my relatives gave me a "beyond black belt" sudoku book at Christmas. i'm able to successfully solve about half of them.
There are technique courses one can take online.