Author: Addison    LaBonte

Major: Mathematics

Graduation Year: 2016

Thesis Advisor: Benjamin Weiss

Description of Publication: Sudoku puzzles date back to the 1800s in France and were introduced to America in the late 1970s. Since then, the puzzle has become a worldwide phenomenon. This thesis will be of expositional nature including the works of books and mathematical papers such as [2], [14], and [15], among others. The pages ahead will contain answers to some common questions about Sudoku such as, what is the minimum number of starting clues that will produce a unique solution? On the other side of the spectrum, what is the maximum number of starting clues that won’t produce a unique solution? Taking Sudoku one step farther, this paper will talk about Magic Squares and the algorithm used in making them. Even more interesting is that the al- gorithm provides the makings of a multimagic square, where every entry in a magic square is squared, with the rows, columns, and diagonals still adding to the same number [15]. See the Appendix for the computer code in the program MATLAB that creates multimagic squares.

Location of Publication:

• fogler
• reynolds

URL to Thesis: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors/393