The New Sudoku Players' Forum

[RW]

Theoretically there could be 10 empty units in a valid puzzle (3 rows, 3 columns and 4 boxes), right? It seems to me a puzzle with 7 empty units is quite easy to make and I found one 8:

Code: Select all

 *-----------*
 |...|4.6|7.8|
 |...|7.9|1.3|
 |...|2.1|5.6|
 |---+---+---|
 |2.5|...|4.1|
 |6.1|...|3.9|
 |...|...|...|
 |---+---+---|
 |3.4|1.8|...|
 |...|...|...|
 |8.2|5.4|...|
 *-----------*

Can anybody construct the 9 and 10?

RW

[JPF]

Theoretically there could be 10 empty units in a valid puzzle (3 rows, 3 columns and 4 boxes), right? It seems to me a puzzle with 7 empty units is quite easy to make and I found one 8:

Can anybody construct the 9 and 10?
RW

Yes, tso made one 9 :
(3 boxes & 6 rows/cols)

Code: Select all

 . . . | . 2 5 | . 3 9
 . . . | . 3 7 | . 4 1
 . . . | . . . | . . .
-------+-------+-------
 . . . | . . . | . . .
 4 7 . | . . . | . 6 8
 1 9 . | . . . | . 5 2
-------+-------+-------
 . . . | . . . | . . .
 6 4 . | . 5 3 | . . .
 7 8 . | . 1 2 | . . .



See here

I made a 8 (4 boxes & 4 rows/cols) here :

Code: Select all

 . . . | . . . | 9 . 6
 . . . | . . . | 3 . 5
 . . . | . . . | 8 . 4
-------+-------+-------
 5 . 4 | . 7 2 | . . .
 3 . 6 | . 5 9 | . . .
 9 . 7 | . 8 1 | . . .
-------+-------+-------
 . . . | . . . | . . .
 6 . 9 | . 4 3 | . . .
 2 . 3 | . 1 6 | . . .



To make a 10 empty units, we need 4 boxes and 6 rows/cols empty
(as 7 rows/cols or 5 boxes is impossible).

The only valid 4 empty boxes shape is :

00X
XX0
XX0

So, it means that a 10 empty units pattern is isomorphic to :

Code: Select all

 . . . | . . . | . x x
 . . . | . . . | . x x
 . . . | . . . | . . .
-------+-------+-------
 x x . | . x x | . . .
 x x . | . x x | . . .
 . . . | . . . | . . .
-------+-------+-------
 x x . | . x x | . . .
 x x . | . x x | . . .
 . . . | . . . | . . .



JPF

[RW]

Interesting, tso posted a 9 almost on the day 1 year ago... Someone should make a nice index of all topics already discussed in the General/puzzle section...

I also think 9 is the most empty units there can be, a 10 would have to be equivalent to:

Code: Select all

X.X ... X.X
... ... ...
X.X ... X.X

... X.X ...
... ... ...
... X.X ...

X.X ... X.X
... ... ...
X.X ... X.X

and I cannot find that in the fully symmetrical thread.

I made a 8 (4 boxes & 4 rows/cols)

Could a 9 with 4 boxes & 5 rows/columns be possible?

RW

[JPF]

Someone should make a nice index of all topics already discussed in the General/puzzle section...

Hard work, but you're right : "someone" should make it...

I cannot find that in the fully symmetrical thread.

right, no puzzle has been posted for this F.S. pattern [20-0-4-2-0] or for its 2 equivalents [0-12-4-2-0] & [24-8-0-2-0]

In the Fractal Sudoku thread I posted this puzzle (+5 clues) with 2 solutions :

Code: Select all

 6 . 2 | . . . | 8 . 7
 . 3 . | . . . | . 1 .
 7 . 8 | . . . | 9 . 2
-------+-------+-------
 . . . | 2 . 9 | . . .
 . . . | . 6 . | . . .
 . . . | 8 . 3 | . . .
-------+-------+-------
 9 . 1 | . . . | 3 . 4
 . 7 . | . . . | . 8 .
 2 . 4 | . . . | 7 . 6



Ocean, posted one with 3 solutions.
Even this pattern seems difficult to match !

Could a 9 with 4 boxes & 5 rows/columns be possible?

doubt it, but who knows ?

JPF