Puzzle

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the common jigsaw puzzle, see Jigsaw puzzle. For other uses, see Puzzle (disambiguation).
"Puzzle game" redirects here. For the video game genre, see Puzzle video game.
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A puzzle is a

enigmatology
.

Puzzles are often created to be a form of entertainment but they can also arise from serious

logical problems. In such cases, their solution may be a significant contribution to mathematical research.[1]

Etymology

The

abstract noun meaning 'the state or condition of being puzzled', and later developing the meaning of 'a perplexing problem'. The OED's earliest clear citation in the sense of 'a toy that tests the player's ingenuity' is from Sir Walter Scott's 1814 novel Waverley, referring to a toy known as a "reel in a bottle".[2]

The etymology of the verb puzzle is described by OED as "unknown"; unproven hypotheses regarding its origin include an Old English verb puslian meaning 'pick out', and a derivation of the verb pose.[3]

Genres

Various puzzles
Simple puzzle made of three pieces

Puzzles can be categorized as:

Puzzle solving

Solutions of puzzles often require the recognition of

BODMAS is an acronym which stands for Bracket, Of, Division, Multiplication, Addition and Subtraction. In certain regions, PEMDAS (Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition and Subtraction) is the synonym of BODMAS. It explains the order of operations to solve an expression. Some mathematical puzzles require Top to Bottom convention to avoid the ambiguity in the order of operations. It is an elegantly simple idea that relies, as sudoku does, on the requirement that numbers appear only once starting from top to bottom as coming along.[4]

Puzzle makers

Puzzle makers are people who make puzzles. In general terms of occupation, a puzzler is someone who composes and/or solves puzzles.

Some notable creators of puzzles are:

History of jigsaw and other puzzles

Main article: Jigsaw puzzle

cartographer, mounted a map on a sheet of wood, which he then sawed around the outline of each individual country on the map. He then used the resulting pieces as an aid for the teaching of geography.[5]

After becoming popular among the public, this kind of teaching aid remained the primary use of jigsaw puzzles until about 1820.[6]

The largest puzzle (40,320 pieces) is made by a German game company Ravensburger.[7] The smallest puzzle ever made was created at LaserZentrum Hannover. It is only five square millimeters, the size of a sand grain.

The puzzles that were first documented are

riddle of the Sphinx. Many riddles were produced during the Middle Ages, as well.[8]

By the early 20th century, magazines and newspapers found that they could increase their readership by publishing

crosswords and in modern days sudoku
.

Organizations and events

There are organizations and events that cater to puzzle enthusiasts, such as:

See also

  • List of impossible puzzles
  • List of Nikoli puzzle types
     – Japanese puzzle publisher and magazine
  • Riddle – Statement with a double meaning used as a puzzle

References

  1. ^ Kendall G.; Parkes A.; and Spoerer K. (2008) A Survey of NP-Complete Puzzles, International Computer Games Association Journal, 31(1), pp 13–34.
  2. ^ "puzzle, n." OED Online. Oxford University Press, December 2019. Web. 21 January 2020.
  3. ^ "puzzle, v." OED Online. Oxford University Press, December 2019. Web. 21 January 2020.
  4. ^ Wilson, R. "Sudoka Number Game". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  5. ^ "History of Puzzles | PuzzleWarehouse.com". www.puzzlewarehouse.com. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
  6. ^ History of Jigsaw Puzzles Archived 2014-02-11 at the Wayback Machine The American Jigsaw Puzzle Society
  7. ^ "The worlds biggest Puzzle | Ravensburger". www.ravensburger.us. Retrieved 2018-06-23.
  8. ^ "A Brief History of Puzzles". Puzzle Museum. 6 April 2017. Archived from the original on 14 April 2020.

Further reading

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Puzzle.
Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: Puzzles
Look up puzzle in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.


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