Go to this web site and scroll down to find a whole set of grid-based logic puzzles:
https://www.puzzle-light-up.com/
I can't find a link that just shows all the puzzles, and each puzzle specializes to its own URL. But, I don't want you to only try this light up puzzle, I want you to try others!
Spend an hour or so trying them out, then choose one to focus on.
Make sure you know how to play the game and try to articulate why you chose that particular one.
In pairs or trios, focus on one grid puzzle.
How will you generate puzzles?
What are the parameters?
What are the constraints?
Remember that design/computational thinking often includes an iterative plan/do/evaluate cycle.
First, articulate your problem as precisely as possible.
What are the inputs/parameters?
What is the output? What properties does it have?
What are your resources?
Is it a computational setting, where you must present a solution as a set of instructions for a computer?
Will you try a different setting?
Once you have an initial plan, try it out with simple values for the parameters.
Evaluate
Did it work?
Do you want to revise your plans? Your problem formulation?
You may decide to switch to a different puzzle if you are finding this too challenging/simple.
What could be known about your problem or a similar one?
Is it NP-complete?
We can do a pop-up lecture on NP-completeness on Thursday (?)
Can you relax your constraints to make the problem more solvable, or are the intrinsic properties the barrier?
Could mathematics or theoretical CS help us here?
Some known problems & references
Sudoku Puzzle — an Exercise in Constraint Programming and Visual Prolog 7 by Carsten Kehler Holst (in Visual Prolog)
Sudoku Squares and Chromatic Polynomials by Herzberg and Murty, treats Sudoku puzzles as vertex coloring problems in graph theory.
Latin Squares
Ch 36 of Proofs from The Book [PDF on Ed]
The Dinitz Problem
Ch 38 of Proofs from The Book [PDF on Ed]
Light Up (aka Akari)
Attilio Sbrana, Luiz Gustavo Bizarro Mirisola, Nei Yoshihiro Soma, Paulo André Lima de Castro, Solving NP-Complete Akari games with deep learning, Entertainment Computing 47, 100580, 2023. [PDF on Ed]
Murphy found this generator
You should be working on:
Homework 2: Gen2 Algorithms by end of day Thu 2/9, 11:59pm
Waypoint 3: tiling by class Tue 2/17, 1:45pm
Mini-project 1: exceptional lamp by class Thu 2/19, 1:45pm