A puzzle is a problem or enigma that challenges ingenuity. A problem is an obstacle which makes it difficult to achieve a desired goal objective or purpose The term ingenuity or applied ideas is used in the analysis of Thomas Homer-Dixon, building on that of Paul Romer, to refer to what is usually called In a basic puzzle one is intended to piece together objects in a logical way in order to come up with the desired shape, picture or solution. Puzzles are often contrived as a form of entertainment, but they can also stem from serious mathematical or logistical problems — in such cases, their successful resolution can be a significant contribution to mathematical research. Research is defined as Human activity based on Intellectual application in the investigation of Matter.
Solutions to puzzles may require recognizing patterns and creating a particular order. A pattern, from the French patron, is a theme of recurring events or objects sometimes referred to as elements of a set People with a high inductive reasoning aptitude may be better at solving these puzzles than others. Inductive reasoning is a measurable aptitude for how well a person can identify a pattern within a large amount of data Puzzles based on the process of inquiry and discovery to complete may be solved faster by those with good deduction skills. Inquiry or enquiry is any process that has the aim of augmenting Knowledge, resolving Doubt, or solving a Problem.
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History
The first jigsaw puzzle was made arounded 1760, when John Spilsbury, a British engraver and mapmaker, mounted a map on a sheet of wood that he then sawed around each individual country. John Spilsbury is a name shared by a number of people John Spilsbury (Baptist minister, leader of the Particular Baptists in 17th-century England Spilsbury used the product to aid in teaching geography. After catching on with the wider public, this remained the primary use of jigsaw puzzles until about 1820. [1]
Arthur Wynne, a Liverpool journalist, published what is recognized as the first crossword puzzle in 1913. Arthur Wynne (1862 - 1945 born Liverpool, England, was a British editor and puzzle constructor in his home country and the United States of America The puzzle was initially called a "word-cross. " The first book of crossword puzzles appeared in 1924, published by Simon and Schuster. Year 1924 ( MCMXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Simon & Schuster Inc, a division of CBS Corporation, is a Publisher founded in New York in 1924 by Richard L The book was an instant hit and crossword puzzles became the craze of 1924. The term crossword first appeared in a dictionary in 1930.
In the early 1900s, magazines and newspapers found that they could increase their daily subscriptions by publishing puzzle contests.
Contemporary puzzles
A sample of notable puzzle authors includes Sam Loyd, Henry Dudeney, Boris Kordemsky and, more recently, David J. Bodycombe, Will Shortz and Martin Gardner. For people with a similar name see Sam Lloyd. Samuel Loyd ( January 31, 1841 &ndash April 10, 1911 Henry Ernest Dudeney ( 10 April 1857 &ndash 24 April 1930) was an English Author and Mathematician who specialised David J Bodycombe (born 1973 is a Puzzle author and games consultant working in the UK mainly on television and radio Game shows (such as The Crystal Maze Will Shortz (born August 26, 1952) is an American puzzle creator and editor Martin Gardner (b October 21, 1914, Tulsa Oklahoma) is a popular American mathematics and science writer specializing in Recreational mathematics
There are organizations and events catering puzzle enthusiasts such as the International Puzzle Party, the World Puzzle Championship and the National Puzzlers' League. The International Puzzle Party (commonly known as "IPP" is an annual meeting of Mechanical puzzle enthusiasts to discuss share and trade mechanical puzzles The World Puzzle Championship is an annual international Puzzle competition run by the World Puzzle Federation. The National Puzzlers' League (NPL is a nonprofit organization focused on puzzling, primarily in the realm of Word play and Word games It is the oldest There are also Puzzlehunts like Maze of Games. The Maze of Games is one of America's largest annual Puzzlehunts and is held at the Gen Con and Origins Gaming conventions Started in 1995
The Rubik's Cube and other magic polyhedrons are toys based on puzzles that can be stimulating toys for kids and are a recreational activity for adults. The Rubik's Cube is a Mechanical puzzle invented in 1974 by Hungarian Sculptor and Professor of Architecture Ernő Rubik Magic polyhedron is a term for a specific type of Puzzle also known as twisty puzzles, the most popular of which is Rubik's Cube. This article is about playthings For other uses of the term see Toy (disambiguation. Puzzles can be used to hide or obscure objects. A good example is a puzzle box used to hide jewelry. A puzzle box (also called a secret or trick box) is a box that can only be opened through some obscure and sometimes complicated series of manipulations Jewellery (also spelled jewelry, see spelling differences) is a personal Ornament, such as a necklace ring or bracelet made from Gemstones
Games are often based on a puzzle. A game is a structured activity, usually undertaken for Enjoyment and sometimes also used as an Educational tool For example there are thousands of computer puzzle games and many letter games, word games and mathematical games which require solutions to puzzles as part of the gameplay. Puzzle video games are a genre of Video games that emphasize Puzzle solving A letter game involves the exchange of written letters or E-mails between two or more participants This article is about using Mathematics to study the inner-workings of Multiplayer games which on the surface may not appear mathematical at all One of the most popular puzzle games is Tetris. Tetris (Тетрис is a Video puzzle game originally designed and programmed by Alexey Pajitnov in June 1985 while working for the Dorodnicyn In video games, jumping puzzles are common. Jumping puzzles or "platform sequences" are sequences of obstacles in Computer and video games particularly in the genre of platformers, where the
A chess problem is a puzzle that uses chess pieces on a chess board. A chess problem, also called a chess composition, is a puzzle set by somebody using Chess pieces on a Chess board that presents the solver with
Types of puzzles
The large number of puzzles that have been created can be divided into categories, for example a maze is a type of tour puzzle. A maze is a complex Tour puzzle in the form of a complex branching passage through which the solver must find a route In tour puzzles the player of the Puzzle makes a trip around a board (usually but not necessarily two-dimensional) using a token which represents Other categories include construction puzzles, stick puzzles, tiling puzzles, transport puzzles, disentanglement puzzles, sliding puzzles, logic puzzles, word puzzles, picture puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, lock puzzles, folding puzzles, combination puzzles and mechanical puzzles. In a construction puzzle you have to build (assemble a technical contraption Stick puzzles use sets of 'polysticks' (essentially one-dimensional objects which have to be assembled into two- or three-dimensional configurations Tiling puzzles are Puzzles involving two-dimensional Packing problems in which a number of flat shapes have to be assembled into a larger given shape without overlaps Transport puzzles are logistical Puzzles which often represent real-life Transport problems A disentanglement puzzle is a type of Mechanical puzzle that involves disentangling one piece or set of pieces from another piece or set of pieces A sliding puzzle, sliding block puzzle, or sliding tile puzzle challenges a player to slide usually flat pieces along certain routes (usually on a board to establish A logic puzzle is a Puzzle deriving from the Mathematics field of Deduction. A sliding puzzle, sliding block puzzle, or sliding tile puzzle challenges a player to slide usually flat pieces along certain routes (usually on a board to establish For The Rolling Stones song see " Jigsaw Puzzle " A jigsaw puzzle is a tiling Puzzle that requires the A lock puzzle is a type of Mechanical puzzle. It consists of a lock with unusual or hidden mechanics A mechanical puzzle is a Puzzle presented as a set of mechanically interlinked pieces Combination puzzles, also called sequential move puzzles, consist of a Set of pieces which can be manipulated into different combinations by a group of A mechanical puzzle is a Puzzle presented as a set of mechanically interlinked pieces
A meta-puzzle is a puzzle which unites or incorporates elements of other puzzles. A metapuzzle is a Puzzle that unites several puzzles that feed into it It is often found in puzzlehunts. A puzzlehunt is a Puzzle Game where teams compete to solve a series of puzzles at a particular site in multiple sites and/or via the internet
Well-known puzzles
Rubik's Cube. The Rubik's Cube is a Mechanical puzzle invented in 1974 by Hungarian Sculptor and Professor of Architecture Ernő Rubik
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Etymology
The 1989 edition of the Oxford English Dictionary dates the word puzzle (as a verb) to the end of the 16th century. Peg solitaire is a Board game for one player involving movement of pegs on a board with holes Puzz-3D is the brand name of three-dimensional Jigsaw puzzles, manufactured by Wrebbit, Inc The Rubik's Cube is a Mechanical puzzle invented in 1974 by Hungarian Sculptor and Professor of Architecture Ernő Rubik Sangaku or San Gaku (算額 lit mathematical tablet are Japanese geometrical puzzles in Euclidean geometry on wooden tablets created during the Edo period The Seven Bridges of Königsberg is a famous historical problem in mathematics Slitherlink (also known as Fences Takegaki Loop the Loop Loopy Ouroboros Suriza and Dotty Dilemma is a Logic puzzle published by Nikoli. is a Logic -based number-placement Puzzle. The objective is to fill a 9×9 grid so that each column each row and each of the nine 3×3 boxes (also called blocks is a Transport puzzle in which the player pushes boxes around a Maze, viewed from above and tries to put them in designated locations Soma-cube-assembledjpg|thumb|none|The same puzzle assembled into a cube]]The Soma cube is a solid dissection puzzle invented by Spot the difference is a name given to a Puzzle where two versions of an image are shown side by side and the player has to find differences between them Tangram ( is a Dissection puzzle. It consists of seven pieces called tans, which fit together to form a shape of some sort The classical Mathematical puzzle known as water gas and electricity, the (three utilities problem, or sometimes the three cottage problem, can be stated The three cups problem is a mathematical puzzle Starting with three cups place one upside down and two right side up The Tower of Hanoi or Towers of Hanoi (also known as The Towers of Bramha) is a Mathematical game or Puzzle. The Oxford English Dictionary ( OED) published by the Oxford University Press (OUP is a comprehensive Dictionary of the English For English usage of verbs see the wiki article English verbs. That first documented use comes from a book called The Voyage of Robert Dudley. Robert Dudley ( 7 August, 1574 Richmond Palace, Surrey &ndash 6 September, 1649 Florence) was the possibly . . to the West Indies, 1594-95, narrated by Capt. Wyatt, by himself, and by Abram Kendall, master (published circa 1595).
Their research, based on the "chronology of the words, and still more the consideration of their sense-history, seem[s] to make it clear that the verb came first, and that the noun was its derivative. "
Related categories
- Category:Puzzle books
- Category:Puzzle designers
- Category:Puzzle video games
See also
- List of puzzle topics
- List of impossible puzzles
- List of puzzle-based computer and video games
- Brain teaser
- Dilemma
- Optical illusion
- Paradox
- Riddle
References
- Creative Puzzles of the World, 1980, Plenary Publications International
- Denkspiele Der Welt, München 1977,1981, Heinrich Hugendubel Verlag
External links
- Puzzles at the Open Directory Project
Dictionary
puzzle
-noun
- Anything that is difficult to understand or make sense of.
- A game for one person that is more or less difficult to work out or complete.
- A crossword puzzle.
- A jigsaw puzzle.
- A riddle.
-verb
- (transitive) To perplex (someone).
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