MAA Fall Meeting Padovan Sum Puzzle
I just finished speaking on the Padovan numbers at the Fall MAA Section meeting and I decided to create a puzzle based on my talk to give away at the conference. This is that puzzle.
Rules are on the puzzle but I'll summarize here. Every clue reveals two things. First, whether or not the sum is less than 9, between 9 and 11, or greater than 11 is revealed by the shape. Next, whether or not the sum is a Padovan number is revealed by the letter inside the shape. A 'P' is used to indicate the sum is a Padovan number and an 'N' is used to indicate that it is not. Because of the constraints of sudoku, the only possible Padovan numbers are the ones in the set {3,4,5,7,9,12,16}.
Some puzzles are really hard at the beginning but once you start getting clues, everything becomes obvious and you can quickly fill things in. It's like a landslide happens, and this tends not to be too fun since entering the obvious numbers gets boring. Other puzzles have some clues which are very easy to fill in at the start until you hit a wall at a certain point. I always try to create puzzles that give the reader a slow burn throughout. In order to accomplish that here and balance out the early and late difficulty, I have to give some cages fewer clues than others. I think I accomplished the balance nicely here, but feel free to let me know if I didn't. I always like hearing from readers! My email is nacind@gmail.com.
The solution and a higher quality PDF image are below.
Comments
Post a Comment