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One strategy for solving this version of the hat problem employs Hamming codes, which are commonly used to detect and correct errors in data transmission. The probability for winning will be much higher than 50%, depending on the number of players in the puzzle configuration: for example, a winning probability of 87.5% for 7 players.
Conway's Game of Life and fractals, as two examples, may also be considered mathematical puzzles even though the solver interacts with them only at the beginning by providing a set of initial conditions. After these conditions are set, the rules of the puzzle determine all subsequent changes and moves.
The Ages of Three Children puzzle (sometimes referred to as the Census-Taker Problem [1]) is a logical puzzle in number theory which on first inspection seems to have insufficient information to solve. However, with closer examination and persistence by the solver, the question reveals its hidden mathematical clues, especially when the solver ...
Some of the more well-known topics in recreational mathematics are Rubik's Cubes, magic squares, fractals, logic puzzles and mathematical chess problems, but this area of mathematics includes the aesthetics and culture of mathematics, peculiar or amusing stories and coincidences about mathematics, and the personal lives of mathematicians.
The "nine dots" puzzle. The puzzle asks to link all nine dots using four straight lines or fewer, without lifting the pen. The nine dots puzzle is a mathematical puzzle whose task is to connect nine squarely arranged points with a pen by four (or fewer) straight lines without lifting the pen.
Squaring the circle, the impossible problem of constructing a square with the same area as a given circle, using only a compass and straightedge. [ 7 ] Three cups problem – Turn three cups right-side up after starting with one wrong and turning two at a time.
Another form of logic puzzle, popular among puzzle enthusiasts and available in magazines dedicated to the subject, is a format in which the set-up to a scenario is given, as well as the object (for example, determine who brought what dog to a dog show, and what breed each dog was), certain clues are given ("neither Misty nor Rex is the German Shepherd"), and then the reader fills out a matrix ...
The term lateral thinking was coined by Edward De Bono to denote a creative problem-solving style that involves looking at the given situation from unexpected angles, and is typically necessary to the solution of situation puzzles. The term "lateral-thinking puzzle" was popularised by Paul Sloane in his 1992 book Lateral Thinking Puzzlers. [1]