17 and Sudoku Clues - Numberphile

17 is the minimum number of clues required to give a unique sudoku solution - but how did mathematicians prove this?

Dr James Grime discusses a recent paper which cracked the problem. The paper being discussed by McGuire and others is at http://arxiv.org/abs/1201.0749

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Videos by Brady Haran

James Grime's website is at http://singingbanana.com/

• Category

  Science & Technology

[Anthony Cass]

i saw yours and there was 43 likes so thumbs downed it lets try keep it there haha

[MystyrNile]

Wow. That was the closest to a decent segue I've seen from a spambot.

[swanclipper]

i was intrigued to see if this puzzling number would appear for me.

[AJ Biffl]

Can you do a video on how to solve sudoku problems?

[Chen Tasker]

best joke ever

[EpicSeaPancake]

Wtf? You have 43 thumbs up now as well. I'm sorry, I'll have to thumb you down :(

[Alexandre Pinho]

Likeception!

[BenGaut]

If you like the number 42, click "Show the comment"

[mashrur rahman]

can I also have 42 likes

[NicoleTakesBananas]

I love how no one else is liking so that they can stay at 42 likes. XD

[MrUidX]

i like that your profile pic is a mine turtle

[bbruinenberg]

Every sudoku with a unique solution can be solved. The reason is that humans can just fill in every possible number in every square and will always end up with a square that can only contain 1 number. Not all 17 clue sudoku's have a unique solution however. Only those in which all unavoidable numbers have been filled in. Because of that the answer to your question is no, and neither can computers.