Algorithmic Puzzles

Algorithmic Puzzles is a book of puzzles based on computational thinking. It was written by computer scientists Anany and Maria Levitin, and published in 2011 by Oxford University Press.

Topics

The book begins with a "tutorial" introducing classical algorithm design techniques including backtracking, divide-and-conquer algorithms, and dynamic programming, methods for the analysis of algorithms, and their application in example puzzles.[1][2] The puzzles themselves are grouped into three sets of 50 puzzles, in increasing order of difficulty. A final two chapters provide brief hints and more detailed solutions to the puzzles,[2] with the solutions forming the majority of pages of the book.[3]

Some of the puzzles are well known classics, some are variations of known puzzles making them more algorithmic, and some are new.[4] They include:

Audience and reception

The puzzles in the book cover a wide range of difficulty, and in general do not require more than a high school level of mathematical background.[3] William Gasarch notes that grouping the puzzles only by their difficulty and not by their themes is actually an advantage, as it provides readers with fewer clues about their solutions.[1]

Reviewer Narayanan Narayanan recommends the book to any puzzle aficionado, or to anyone who wants to develop their powers of algorithmic thinking.[4] Reviewer Martin Griffiths suggests another group of readers, schoolteachers and university instructors in search of examples to illustrate the power of algorithmic thinking.[3] Gasarch recommends the book to any computer scientist, evaluating it as "a delight".[1]

References
  1. Gasarch, William (December 2013), "Review of Algorithmic Puzzles" (PDF), ACM SIGACT News, 44 (4): 47–48, doi:10.1145/2556663.2556674
  2. Rosebrock, Stephan, "Review of Algorithmic Puzzles", zbMATH, Zbl 1233.00005
  3. Griffiths, Martin (March 2014), "Review of Algorithmic Puzzles", The Mathematical Gazette, 98 (541): 188, JSTOR 24496640
  4. Narayanan, Narayanan (2012), "Review of Algorithmic Puzzles", Mathematical Reviews, MR 2866446
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