Prof uses Sudoku in class

If you were a fly on the wall of a particular Pitt classroom, you might be surprised at what… If you were a fly on the wall of a particular Pitt classroom, you might be surprised at what you see.

You might expect to see students doodling on their notebooks out of boredom.

But you probably won’t.

You might expect to see students hastily scribbling notes as the professor lectures.

But you probably won’t.

You might even expect to see students passed out on their desks, exhausted after a long night wandering the streets of Oakland or hitting the books at the Hillman Library.

But you probably won’t see that either.

What you will see are students staring intently at pages made up of grids and numbers, brows furrowed in thought.

They’re doing Sudoku.

Sudoku, a logic puzzle, has become the new craze among Pitt students ever since it appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, along with several other U.S. newspapers, last year.

The puzzle is a 3-by-3 square grid, with each square containing 3-by-3 sub-grids. The object of the game is to fill each row, column and sub-grid with the numbers one through nine. There are varying levels of difficulty.

Pitt students often play Sudoku during class, so many professors may think of the puzzle as a distraction.

Chemistry professor Michael Golde isn’t one of those professors.

“I think it’s an interesting way to get students to think logically,” he said.

Golde gives his students Sudoku puzzles to complete for extra credit. In addition, he asks for feedback. He asks, “Was it easy?” and “Did it help to show you how to think logically?” He said that most students respond positively.

Golde said he asks that his students do Sudoku because the same strategy used to complete the puzzles can be applied to conducting a chemistry experiment.

“In chemistry, there’s observation first,” he said, “After that, you apply concepts or a set of rules. Then, you use logic to work out the rest. With Sudoku, you follow the same steps; you observe the grid, use the rules and apply logic to fill in the squares.”

Aside from class, Pitt students also complete Sudoku puzzles in their leisure time.

Freshman Kyle Bishop and sophomore Rachel Jones said they love Sudoku and do at least a few puzzles every day.

“I guess you could say that I’m addicted. If I’m not doing anything, I’ll click over to WebSudoku and do a quick puzzle. I have it bookmarked,” Bishop said, laughing.

Bishop said he likes Sudoku because it’s challenging. He feels a sense of accomplishment when he’s completed one, especially one of the more difficult puzzles.

“It’s not like crosswords where you usually have to know a bunch of random, useless information,” he said, “Anyone can do it. I think that’s part of the appeal.”

Jones said she typically works on puzzles in her spare time and when she is bored in class.

“I like it because it’s mind-stimulating,” she said. “Everyone has their crossword puzzles, but I always have my [Sudoku] book in my book bag.”

Bishop and Jones have Wayne Gould to thank for their addiction. He is single-handedly responsible for infecting the United States with the Sudoku epidemic.

Gould first came across Sudoku at Japanese bookstore in 1997. He became addicted, and over the next several years he created a computer program that produced the puzzles more quickly.

In 2004, he took Sudoku to London and introduced it to The Times. On Nov. 12, 2004, the first puzzle debuted.

Sudoku crossed the ocean to the United States by the summer of 2005, and the New York Post, the San Francisco Chronicle and USA Today published puzzles by September.

Gould wrote in an e-mail that he thinks it has become popular so quickly because it serves as a means of escape.

“It’s just between you and that grid,” he wrote. “To solve it, you need to concentrate on the puzzle and nothing else, so it distracts you from your worries. In that sense, it’s good therapy.”

Pappocom, Gould’s computer software company, supplies more than 400 publications in 60 countries worldwide with Sudoku. More than half of these companies are in the United States, and the number continues to grow. He demands no charge for the puzzle.

Like Gould, New York Times crossword editor Will Shortz loves Sudoku.

And if there’s one thing he knows, it’s puzzles.

This is because Shortz is the only person in the world to hold a degree in enigmatology, or the study of puzzles.

However, he said The Times still has yet to publish Sudoku, and it may be some time until they do. It took 18 years after every other newspaper published a crossword before The Times joined in. At that rate, Sudoku won’t make its appearance until 2023.

According to Shortz, Sudoku attracts people for the same reason that crossword puzzles do; they are drawn to the empty squares. He said that people have the innate need to fill empty space.

Although crosswords are still his favorite puzzle, Shortz still considers himself a huge Sudoku fan.

“When I first heard about it a year ago, I was curious to see what everyone was so crazy about. Then I did it and I understood,” he said.