article Related Topics:
Puzzles :: Puzzle :: Puzzles_and_Mazes :: Puzzle_Bobble_Series :: Puzzle_Creation :: Puzzle_Bobble_4 :: PuzzleKings :: Puzzles_and_Quizzes
 

For the character in the Chronicles of Narnia series, see Puzzle (Narnia). A puzzle is a problem or enigma that challenges ingenuity. People often contrive such problems 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.

Solutions to puzzle may require recognizing patterns and creating a particular order. People with a high inductive reasoning aptitude may be better at solving these puzzles than others. Puzzles based on the process of inquiry and discovery to complete, may be solved faster by those with good deduction skills.

The history of puzzles goes back many thousands of years, a tangram being one of the earliest and still one of the most popular. In certain temples of Japan monks used to write mathematical puzzles on temple walls.

Contemporary Puzzling

A sample of notable puzzle authors includes David J. Bodycombe, Will Shortz and Martin Gardner.

There are organisations and events catering puzzle enthusiasts such as the International Puzzle Party, the World Puzzle Championship and the National Puzzlers' League. There are also puzzlehunts like Maze of Games.

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. Puzzles can used to hide or obscure objects. A good example is a puzzle box used to hide jewelry.

Games are often based on a puzzle. 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. Of of the most popular puzzle games is Tetris.

Types of Puzzles

The large number of puzzles that have been created can be divided into categories, for example a maze is tour puzzle. Other types include the following; construction puzzle, stick puzzle, tiling puzzle, transport puzzle, disentanglement puzzle, interlocking puzzle, tanglement puzzle, logic puzzle, lock puzzle and a mechanical puzzle.

A meta-puzzle is a group of puzzles one inside the other.

Well-known puzzles

Etymology

The word "puzzle" poses an etymological conundrum. The 1989 edition of the Oxford English Dictionary dates the word (as a verb) to the end of the 16th century. That first documented use comes from a book called The Voyage of Robert Dudley...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* to make it clear that the verb came first, and that the noun was its derivative."

Related categories

See also

References

  • Creative Puzzles of the World, 1980, Plenary Publications International
  • Denkspiele Der Welt, München 1977,1981, Heinrich Hugendubel Verlag

External links

Puzzles | Problem solving

Geduldsspiel | Enigmo | Rompecabezas | Casse-tête | Dúcheist | חידה | Tebakan | Puzlo | Rompicapo | パズル | Puzzel | Quebra-cabeça | Головоломка | Trò chơi đố | 趣題

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Puzzle".

Home Page • arts • business • computers • games • health • hospitals • home • kids & teens • news • physicians • recreation• reference • regional • science • shopping • society • sports • world