The New Sudoku Players' Forum

[lunababy_moonchild]

I've got a feeling this is going to be a really stupid question but I do actually want to know the answer (as opposed to making a sarcastic, or otherwise, comment).

When a puzzle is posted in a non-english speaking country's newspaper is it posted in exactly the same format as it would be posted in an english speaking country's newspaper? That is, the way the puzzle appears in the (Times) books and in the program.

Or is the puzzle posted in whatever the numeric format of the native language of said country (if you get my drift!). That is, in Romania for example, is the puzzle printed in whatever the Romanian is for numbers?

Just wanted to know.

Luna

[scrose]

Hey, now that's an interesting question. lunababy, what was it that made you think of that?

On a similar tangent, Hebrew and Arabic are written from right-to-left. Does that mean sudokus in Israeli and Arabic newspapers are mirror images of the ones printed in English newspapers?

Code: Select all

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

[lunababy_moonchild]

The Swedish players are conversing in Swedish and it got me thinking.

I wonder how you'd post a Sudoku in a Chinese newspaper?

Luna

[shakers]

On a similar tangent, Hebrew and Arabic are written from right-to-left. Does that mean sudokus in Israeli and Arabic newspapers are mirror images of the ones printed in English newspapers?

I cannot see why they would need to be mirrored - I don't necessarily start in the top right hand corner to solve a puzzle; I work right to left, left to right, top to bottom, and bottom to top, as is convenient.

[lunababy_moonchild]

So do I but I wondered, do the Danes, Swedes (perhaps our Swedish players could help with this), Portugese, Croats etc all use the same 1 2 3 - these are Arabic numerals, right? - numeric notation or does Wayne have to translate the puzzle for each country?

Luna

[angusj]

I hope your question is in jest Luna, otherwise I might think you're a lunatic.

[lunababy_moonchild]

No, I'm perfectly serious, I really do want to know.

Luna

[scrose]

I cannot see why they would need to be mirrored

No, it certainly does not need to be mirrored. You could rotate/mirror any Pappocom puzzle and end up with the same solution. I was simply curious whether the puzzles were horizontally mirrored in newspapers that read right-to-left.

[angusj]

No, I'm perfectly serious, I really do want to know.

OK... Sudoku (is it a noun now and is it singular and plural?) even as a mirror image will require the same steps to solve it - so why bother?

[scrose]

Sudoku (is it a noun now and is it singular and plural?)

Hmm, wikipedia suggests that words of Japanese origin can be both singular and plural, although it is common to see an "s" added at the end to clarify the use of the plural form.

even as a mirror image will require the same steps to solve it - so why bother?

English readers are looking at the puzzle left-to-right. In order for people, who read right-to-left, to "see" the puzzle the same way we do, it would have to be mirrored horizontally. But, like you said, the solution is the same.

[lunababy_moonchild]

But are the numbers that are used in English speaking countries used?

Which was my original question.

Luna

[scrose]

Sorry, I kind of hijacked your topic with my talk of right-to-left. Getting back on track, wikipedia has a list of numeral systems. For example, do the Indian newspapers print sudoku puzzles using Devanagari script, or Arabic numerals?

[rabbi]

I just found this thread and failed to see luna's point (sorry...). Su Doku or Sudoku is a spacial puzzle, not a numerical one. It doesn't matter if you use numbers, letters, colors, squares, emoticons, or dog races... As long as you know all the possibible 'values' (for instance, all the possible emoticons) you can solve it. Just fill the grid following the one-rule. Have fun!

[Bernard]

In most of the Belgian papers you recently find a Sudoku.
Par example: http://www.hln.be/hln/alg/pag/hln_index.jsp?p_page=fun&p_cat=sudoku1 (Het Laatste Nieuws is one of most popular papers in Belgium).

[Marianne]

So do I but I wondered, do the Danes, Swedes (perhaps our Swedish players could help with this), Portugese, Croats etc all use the same 1 2 3 - these are Arabic numerals, right? - numeric notation or does Wayne have to translate the puzzle for each country?

Luna

Where are you from??? Of course we use numbers in Denmark. We read and write from left to right. We use the Arabic numbers (1-2-3...) Our Sudokus look just like yours. Except the explanation of what to do is in Danish.
In the Arabic speaking countries they read from right to left, but their numbers are read from left to right. Their numbers are not written 1-2-3.... but since I don't have an arabic keybord I can't show you what they look like. Some of the numbers look similar to our numbers. 1 and 9 look the same as ours. 7 is tilted, but look similar.
Even though our numbers are called Arabic they are not Arabic. It's the way we calculate that's Arabic.