[Guest]

If you remember the game Instant Insanity you will recall you had to stack 4 cubes so that each stack face was composed of unique colors. This begged the question of how many different ways are there to stack the cubes? There are several ways to calculate this and most people would agree the answer is 82,944. (24^4 / 4 or 24^3 * 6 for example)

Moving to the popular Sudoku puzzles, can we get agreement on how many unique puzzles are possible? I do not know the answer and would be interested in seeing some clever and correct solutions.

Good luck!

[Guest]

Moving to the popular Sudoku puzzles, can we get agreement on how many unique puzzles are possible? I do not know the answer and would be interested in seeing some clever and correct solutions.

Good luck!

Already been done ...

http://sudokusolver.com/newsletter/2005-10/

[Guest]

i found something like...

5,472,730,538

[Guest]

Already been done ...

http://sudokusolver.com/newsletter/2005-10/

although this may be the answer, its a lot more fun actually trying to work it out yourself and show the workings. After all, i believe that this is what this site is all about

[Guest]

Already been done ...

http://sudokusolver.com/newsletter/2005-10/

Yes, it appears it has but that link required the use of a computer to do the complex calculations. I am looking for a solution that does not require a computer!

[bonanova]

Yes, it appears it has but that link required the use of a computer to do the complex calculations. I am looking for a solution that does not require a computer!

The solution that does not require a computer gives an upper bound:

It's simply 362880×86400×216×155520×60000×216×4374×256×1

= 15,284,122,844,890,207,459,737,600,000,000 puzzles.

This bound is astronomical and meaningless - it includes duplicates and wrong answers.

Are you saying that you can get a meaningful answer by a simple calculation?

[Guest]

The solution that does not require a computer gives an upper bound:

It's simply 362880×86400×216×155520×60000×216×4374×256×1

= 15,284,122,844,890,207,459,737,600,000,000 puzzles.

This bound is astronomical and meaningless - it includes duplicates and wrong answers.

Are you saying that you can get a meaningful answer by a simple calculation?

I agree one big meaningless number, and i was hoping to spark some interest and some clever thoughts on how to get to meaningful without a brute force computer routine.