PASTOR DAVE’S MUSINGS FROM THE HEARTLAND

July 17, 2024

THERE IS A LOGIC

While I was in Mississippi last month I picked up a copy of Volume 35 of Dell’s “Crazy for Sudoku!”  In addition to the original Sudoku puzzles it included the following permutations: Wordoku, Sum-duko, Extreme Sudoku, Jigsaw Sudoku, and Sudoku Super Challenge.   Included were several Kenken and Cross Sums puzzles.

As I was working my way through Volume 35, dealing with a variety of puzzles, I realized that I was relying on certain basic assumptions and observations to assist me in my work.  Not only are these assumptions and observations helpful in solving Sudoku puzzles, they apply to problems in general.  Let me share some of them.

First, I begin each puzzle by applying a basic routine.  This gives me a rational way to proceed which eliminates my jumping all over the puzzle to find a place to begin.  This approach is especially helpful for more difficult puzzles where the key to its solution can sometimes be very elusive.

While following a regular routine has its strong points, sometimes just taking a quick look at the total puzzle before starting will suggest obvious places to begin.   This is especially true for easy puzzles.  Always following a standard routine can cause one to fall into the trap of not being able to see the forest by just consecrating on individual trees.

Sometimes in looking for an answer in one square of a Sudoku puzzle, the search reveals an answer in another square.  This follows from the last point.  In examining a particular tree one needs to be aware of the all the trees in the forest.

It may seem illogical but sometimes the more difficult Sudoku permutations are in fact easier to solve than original puzzles.  The reason for this is that added complications add additional tools to solve the puzzles.  In Extreme Sudoku the diagonals each have to follow the general rules for a square.  In looking for a number to put in any one particular block can add an additional way to discover the appropriate number to use.

Sudoku puzzles can either be generated by a computer or created by a real, live person.  I prefer the latter.  Each individual creator has his or her favorite ways of hiding the key to solve difficult puzzles.  These inherent tendencies can be discovered by working enough puzzles created by a specific person.  All of us have inherent tendencies which give direction to our lives.  Someone examining our lives can discover them if they observe long enough.

A basic assumption I have when I begin any puzzle is that it can be solved if I just find the right key.  There have been a few puzzles for which I was never able to find the starting point to unravel it.  When this happened, I assumed that the fault lay with me.  There was an answer.  I just could not find it.

In trying to find the unifying theory which would explain our universe, Albert Einstein asserted that God does not throw dice.  It was his assumption that there is logic behind the universe.  Even though he was not able to discover it, he still assumed that it existed.  Upon this basic assumption all science is based.

Sometimes life can seem unfair and illogical.  There seems to be no satisfactory answer to our question of “Why?”  One of tenets of the Christian is that there is logic behind the universe, sometimes known only to God.  Upon this basic assumption science and the Christian faith agree.  Even though we may not perceive it, the world and all that happens in it does make sense.  This assumption is what allows us to function in the face of chaos and uncertainty.

(This article was originally published July 17, 2011.  Comments may be sent to davidh15503@embarqmail.com.)