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up vote 16 down vote

added by Kevin Oct 6 '12 at 22:57

@Everyone Upvoting questions past +10 on here is a bit pointless (except that we're giving Kevin a bit more reputation), rather use votes on other questions to get them to +10. – Dukeling Mar 27 '13 at 21:09

@Everyone Don't forget that you can remove your vote by clicking the up arrow again. You can then use the vote on a question that has less than 10 score. – BenjiWiebe Apr 24 '13 at 12:57

@Dukeling not everything you don't understand is pointless. You don't understand the concept of voting or just want to game the system. – FolksLord May 26 '13 at 21:56

@volkerjaan I understand it perfectly. I'd just rather have sites getting up and running rather than spend forever in the Definition phase because people upvote a few questions to infinity. Think about it - if we don't do what you seem to be implying is 'gaming the system' and 5 questions are clearly superior, everyone will spend their 5 (is it?) votes on those 5 questions and we'll never get the 40 required questions to +10. And this doesn't mean that there aren't 35 other questions that aren't excellent, it just means those 5 are the best. – Dukeling May 26 '13 at 22:35

Personally, as someone with a great deal of knowledge about solving Rubik's cubes, "easiest" seems opinion-based. There are dozens of easy methods which can be taught to newcomers in under an hour. "Fastest" is a better question (competitively there are only 4 or 5 popular viable methods), but there are already tons of other resources out there for this, so I'd hope we can go beyond this and find more specific things about Rubik's cubes to discuss beyond just "how can I solve this quickly?". – Logan M Aug 5 '13 at 2:57

up vote 14 down vote

added by tyjkenn Oct 13 '12 at 4:20

<comments removed> Please do not use comments to answer these questions. This proposal is not part of a Q&A site, and the task at hand is to help define what is on and off topic for a site. Comments are here to help improve the questions; not to answer them. Thank you. – Robert Cartaino Mar 6 '13 at 18:55

up vote 12 down vote

added by Kevin, edited by DForck42 Dec 19 '12 at 15:36

List style question are generally not a good fit for a Stack exchange site. Most SE site FAQs say something like: You should only ask practical, answerable questions based on actual problems that you face. Chatty, open-ended questions diminish the usefulness of our site and push other questions off the front page. – Mark Booth Oct 9 '12 at 10:16

What is the most advanced sudoku strategy? – FolksLord May 26 '13 at 21:59

My book has some very advanced sudoku problems with a step by step answer Alan Ross – Anonymous Aug 18 '13 at 21:56

up vote 12 down vote

added by segiddins Oct 23 '12 at 3:24

Is this a mathematical question? If yes: 'Are Mathematical questions considered Puzzles?' This had to be discussed in meta. – H0efi Dec 19 '12 at 15:19

@H0efi: I don't think there is a mathematical definition of "difficulty of sudoku". There may be a factor that corresponds to it maybe, but this question could be just as well answered by a heuristics that only superficially touches simplest mathematics. – SF. Apr 8 '13 at 10:52

It's rather a cognitive science question. It may have a lot do do with the possibilities you have to remember before you can made a decission. I'd try asking it on CogSci.SE. – FolksLord May 26 '13 at 21:58

Purely subjective: how much "Sudoku Pain" it gives you, the more the merrier. – Chris O Aug 31 '13 at 19:41

up vote 12 down vote

added by Manuel Faux Nov 15 '12 at 22:16

up vote 12 down vote

added by BenjiWiebe Jan 27 '13 at 2:21

Hmm there are a lot of strategies. You ask for a strategy to solve even the hardest sudoku, the strategy to solve easy sudokus very fast or something else? – FolksLord May 26 '13 at 21:57

The question is not about solving sudoku's; its about creating sudoku's. And also, questions on Area51 are not intended to be answered, unless they are in the discussion area. – BenjiWiebe May 29 '13 at 0:45

Since I have written many books on sudoku I should know the answer. – Anonymous Aug 18 '13 at 21:54

up vote 11 down vote

added by Marco Leogrande Oct 19 '12 at 2:46

up vote 11 down vote

added by Marco Leogrande Oct 19 '12 at 2:50

up vote 11 down vote

added by Saariko Oct 30 '12 at 18:48

up vote 11 down vote

added by 5un5 Dec 19 '12 at 16:12

The site will be for puzzles, not riddles. Riddles are solved by guessing the veiled meaning in intentionally-poor communication. Puzzles rely solely on logic. – tyjkenn Jan 25 '13 at 22:32

@tyjkenn From Wikipedia - "A riddle is ..., put forth as a puzzle to be solved". "Puzzle" is pretty broad, and riddles have a lot to do with logic. Whether or not riddles should be included? I don't know. – Dukeling Mar 27 '13 at 21:15

That is a good point. A riddle might be considered a puzzle, but there's no way to design an algorithm for solving most riddles. Usually it clicks or it doesn't. I can't picture it fit for a SE site. This specific question, however, asks for methods of riddle-creation, not for riddle-solving. I've seen algorithms for inventing poetry, so maybe creating a riddle is itself a puzzle, but it still seems too subjective. – tyjkenn Mar 28 '13 at 4:58

@tyjkenn: Precisely this phase is to decide if this site will be for riddles or not. If you think riddles should be unwelcome, feel free to downvote. – SF. Apr 11 '13 at 8:25

Also, considering this particular question - I guess it would be a welcome question on Writers.SE, and subjective as it is, this type of questions (how do you translate poetry? How do you make your villains hated) it gathers good, valuable answers there. If riddle-making gets deemed off-topic here, Writers will welcome it with open arms. – SF. Apr 12 '13 at 9:04

up vote 10 down vote

added by Marco Leogrande Oct 12 '12 at 4:38

up vote 10 down vote

added by tyjkenn Oct 13 '12 at 4:28

closed as duplicate of Given two hourglasses, one lasting 4 minutes, and one lasting 7 minutes, how do you measure 9 minutes precisely? by Robert Cartaino Oct 22 '12 at 13:32

This question covers exactly the same ground as another question in this proposal.

Whah?! How does come even close to relating to a puzzle about hourglasses? – tyjkenn Oct 22 '12 at 23:39

@tyjkenn Because both questions are equivalent from the point of view of "which questions should be asked on the proposed website": both of them are puzzles. I think that just one question per type is enough, otherwise we could just open hundreds of questions, each of them proposing a different puzzle. – Marco Leogrande Oct 25 '12 at 6:12

I thought that was the whole idea, to see if we could come up with enough relevant questions to sustain the site. We need 40 questions, so how will we do that with one puzzle question and one puzzle design question? Shouldn't we have lots of puzzle questions so we can decide which ones are best for a Stack site? If it wouldn't be closed on the real site, it shouldn't be closed here. – tyjkenn Oct 25 '12 at 21:09

I threw in some variables. Now it asks for more than a simple answer. It is now mathematics applied to puzzles, with complex and detailed solutions. Just the kind of problem one would expect to see on SE. – tyjkenn Mar 28 '13 at 5:24

@tyjkenn this question was closed because it is the same type of question as the hourglass question not because they are in themselves similar. In example questions we need to find the scope of the site rather than just a whole lot of questions to populate the site. Having hundreds of puzzles as questions does not provide enough material or interest to sustain the site. – damned truths Apr 11 '13 at 13:40

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up vote 10 down vote

added by Nick Alger Oct 24 '12 at 23:25

up vote 10 down vote

added by DForck42 Dec 19 '12 at 15:39

up vote 10 down vote

added by DForck42 Dec 19 '12 at 15:40

up vote 10 down vote

added by 5un5 Dec 19 '12 at 16:11

up vote 10 down vote

added by Bagavatu Jan 3 '13 at 4:45

up vote 10 down vote

added by Steven Stadnicki Jan 24 '13 at 22:20

up vote 10 down vote

added by tyjkenn Jan 25 '13 at 22:47

up vote 10 down vote

added by igelkott Mar 4 '13 at 21:36

I feel that this may be better suited on a site that focusses on the brain rather than puzzles. – Dukeling Mar 27 '13 at 21:20

Oh, a good question for CogSci – FolksLord May 26 '13 at 21:59

up vote 10 down vote

added by RSFalcon7 Mar 24 '13 at 16:13

up vote 10 down vote

added by RSFalcon7 Mar 24 '13 at 16:15

up vote 10 down vote

added by mau Mar 24 '13 at 16:20

for example, Sudoku is a derivation of Latin squares, while Nim has the "nim sum". – mau Mar 24 '13 at 16:22

up vote 10 down vote

added by JMcAfreak Mar 26 '13 at 17:04

up vote 10 down vote

added by zar Mar 29 '13 at 11:52

up vote 10 down vote

added by Sconibulus Apr 4 '13 at 13:27

i think thats a but too general – tryingToGetProgrammingStraight Aug 16 '13 at 10:01

up vote 10 down vote

added by SF. Apr 8 '13 at 11:11

This would be better for the [area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/35390/…) site providing it ever takes off. Puzzling seems to be better in that respect. – SF. Apr 8 '13 at 11:12

up vote 10 down vote

added by SF. Apr 8 '13 at 11:16

Guessing games are discouraged on Stackexchange sites. Therefore I think this is not a good question. – Uooo May 28 '13 at 11:31

Personally, I strongly disagree with that whole blog entry... The fallacies almost hurt. I.e. The whole "Recreation" category of sites goes against the requirement of "practical questions based on actual problems". – SF. May 28 '13 at 12:01

Taking Arqade rules into consideration, identification is acceptable as long as it is not solely from memory. For example, if a student hears about an obscure puzzle from a professor (and finds nothing in a search engine) giving the name and possibly category or initial question would be acceptable? – David Starkey Jul 29 '13 at 20:23

possibly a valid post i think its a bad example and would be a few obscure cases – tryingToGetProgrammingStraight Aug 16 '13 at 10:00

up vote 10 down vote

added by Edward Goodson Apr 10 '13 at 23:20

up vote 10 down vote

added by FredH May 8 '13 at 1:38

up vote 10 down vote

added by FolksLord May 12 '13 at 11:37

up vote 10 down vote

added by FolksLord May 12 '13 at 11:40

the Einstein puzzle which is not related to Einstein? – Memming May 25 '13 at 4:30

up vote 10 down vote

added by commando May 14 '13 at 17:36

up vote 10 down vote

added by favilo May 14 '13 at 22:46

up vote 10 down vote

added by Memming May 25 '13 at 4:31

up vote 10 down vote

added by abhiii5459 Jun 2 '13 at 12:00

up vote 10 down vote

added by Kevin Jul 12 '13 at 0:57

up vote 10 down vote

added by udiboy1209 Aug 17 '13 at 13:11

up vote 10 down vote

added by mschilli Aug 19 '13 at 6:57

up vote 9 down vote

added by Marco Leogrande Oct 19 '12 at 2:43

closed as duplicate of Is there any algorithm to solve the “Fifteen puzzle”? by Robert Cartaino Mar 6 '13 at 19:18

This question covers exactly the same ground as another question in this proposal.

How can you know the time complexity before you solved the puzzle? And if you did - how would you know your/this solution is worth of xx:xx:xx time? – Saariko Oct 30 '12 at 18:47

@Saariko Example: it is a fact that solving the Towers of Hanoi requires 2^n - 1 steps, or that the time complexity is O(2^n), where n is the number of disks. I don't think that a faster algorithm exists. Now, given a less popular puzzle, it would be interesting to know if a given algorithm is the less complex one or not. – Marco Leogrande Oct 31 '12 at 5:48

Time complexity amplifies the scope of the question in such a level that it substantially different from the other question. – RSFalcon7 Apr 26 '13 at 11:33

This question should be reopened. – Nick Alger Jun 7 '13 at 3:56

@Nick You can vote for it ;) – Marco Leogrande Jun 8 '13 at 21:40

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