PUZZLE FEVER

RHINDS PAPYRUS

“THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS PUZZLES: SEVEN HOUSES COUNTAIN SEVEN CATS. EACH CAT KILLS SEVEN MICES. EACH MOUSE HAD EATEN SEVEN EARS OF GRAIN. EACH EAR OF GRAIN WOULD HAVE PRODUCED SEVEN BASKETS OF WHEAT. HOUSES, CATS, MICES, EARS, BASKETS, WHAT IS THE TOTAL OF ALL OF THESE?”

PAPYRUS – PAPER MADE BY ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.

SUDOKU – A LOGIC NUMBER PLACEMENT PUZZLE.

PUZZLES SEEM TO BE PART OF HUMAN LIFE SINCE THE BEGINNING OF CIVILIZATION. ONE OF THE FIRST COLLECTIONS OF PUZZLES WAS RECORDED ABOUT 1650 B.C. ON A FAMOUS SCROLL CALLED THE RHIND PAPYRUS.

IN 1858, HENRY RHIND, A 25 YEARS-OLD SCOTSMAN, WAS VISITING EGYPT FOR HEALTH REASONS. BEFORE LONG, RHIND BECAME INTERESTING IN ARCHEOLOGY. ONE DAY, WHILE HE WAS SHOPPING AT A MARKET IN LUXOR HE BOUGHT A PAPYRUS SCROLL. HE DIDN´T KNOW HE WAS BUYING THE MOST IMPORTANT SOURCE OF INFORMATION WE HAVE ABOUT EGYPTIAN MATHEMATICS.

RHIND DIED VERY YOUNG IN 1863 AND THE PAPYRUS WAS TAKEN TO THE BRITISH MUSEUM WHERE IT REMAINS UNTIL TODAY.

ARCHEOLOGISTS DECIPHERED THE PAPYRUS AND FOUND OUT THAT IT WAS WRITTEN BY A SCRIBE NAMED AHMES. THE PAPYRUS CONTAINS CALCULATIONS NEEDED FOR BUILDING AND ACCOUTING AND MANY MATHEMATICAL PROBLEMS IN THE FORM OF PUZZLES.

MAN´S INTEREST IN PUZZLES CONTINUES TODAY. THE MOST MODERN FORM OF PUZZLES IS THE SUDOKU. JAPANESE FOR NUMBER (“SU”) AND RIGHT PLACE (“DOKU”). ALTHOUGHT THE NAME IS JAPANESE, THE ORIGIN IS EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN. BUT SUDOKU BECAME POPULAR IN JAPAN FIRST, AND THEN WENT TO EUROPE AND AMERICA. MOST NEWSPAPERS FEATURE CROSS WORD PUZZLES AND SUDOKU PUZZLES EVERYDAY. CELL PHONE COMPANIES OFFER SUDOKU BOARDS AMONG THE GAMES THAT USERS CAN ACCESS AND MANY SCHOOLS USE SUDOKU IN THEIR MATH CLASSES.