Template:Short description Mathematical puzzles make up an integral part of recreational mathematics. They have specific rules, but they do not usually involve competition between two or more players. Instead, to solve such a puzzle, the solver must find a solution that satisfies the given conditions. Mathematical puzzles require mathematics to solve them. Logic puzzles are a common type of mathematical puzzle.
Conway's Game of Life and fractals, as two examples, may also be considered mathematical puzzles even though the solver interacts with them only at the beginning by providing a set of initial conditions. After these conditions are set, the rules of the puzzle determine all subsequent changes and moves. Many of the puzzles are well known because they were discussed by Martin Gardner in his "Mathematical Games" column in Scientific American. Mathematical puzzles are sometimes used to motivate students in teaching elementary school math problem solving techniques.<ref>Kulkarni, D. Enjoying Math: Learning Problem Solving With KenKen Puzzles Template:Webarchive, A textbook for teaching with KenKen Puzzles. </ref> Creative thinkingTemplate:Sndor "thinking outside the box"Template:Sndoften helps to find the solution.
List of mathematical puzzlesEdit
Numbers, arithmetic, and algebraEdit
- Cross-figures or cross number puzzles
- Dyson numbers
- Four fours
- KenKen
- Water pouring puzzle
- The monkey and the coconuts
- Pirate loot problem
- Verbal arithmetics
- 24 Game
CombinatorialEdit
- Cryptograms
- Fifteen Puzzle
- Kakuro
- Rubik's Cube and other sequential movement puzzles
- Str8ts a number puzzle based on sequences
- Sudoku
- Sujiko
- Think-a-Dot
- Tower of Hanoi
- Bridges Game
Analytical or differentialEdit
- See also: Zeno's paradoxes
ProbabilityEdit
Tiling, packing, and dissectionEdit
- Bedlam cube
- Conway puzzle
- Mutilated chessboard problem
- Packing problem
- Pentominoes tiling
- Slothouber–Graatsma puzzle
- Soma cube
- T puzzle
- Tangram
Involves a boardEdit
Chessboard tasksEdit
Topology, knots, graph theoryEdit
The fields of knot theory and topology, especially their non-intuitive conclusions, are often seen as a part of recreational mathematics.
MechanicalEdit
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0-player puzzlesEdit
ReferencesEdit
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