Puzzles and brain teasers

Puzzling

Article from Issue 173/2015
Author(s):

Creating and solving letter and number puzzles is a popular pastime. We look at some of the free software that is available for this hobby on Linux.

Tricky puzzles, word games, and number problems are very popular – and not just in the depths of winter. The ability to apply yourself to a task and completely block out your surroundings is a distinctive personality trait for engineers, mathematicians, and other creative people. Scientific studies have demonstrated that puzzles provide mental stimulation and can even slow down the progression of Alzheimer's Disease [1].

If the original goal were just the pleasure of solving and cracking puzzles, it is now also considered a pastime with an intellectual benefit: brain training ("keeping your mind fit") and strengthening and increasing general knowledge. This is true both for creating the puzzle and finding a solution. In championships, the participant who solves the given puzzle in the quickest time is the victor.

Puzzle design varies in content, arrangement, shape, and size. Picture, syllable, crossword, and number puzzles are well-known examples. The solutions can often be discovered with the help of logical thought processes or graph theory (e.g., the famous number squares, Sudoku).

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