Book Review: Taking Sudoku Seriously by Jason Rosenhouse and Laura Taalman

You are probably familiar with Sudoku, the puzzle in which you are asked to fill a 9x9 grid with the numbers from 1 to 9, so that no row, column or smaller block has any number more than once. In
Taking Sudoku Seriously: The Math behind the World's Most Popular Puzzle Jason Rosenhouse and Laura Taalman use Sudoku puzzles to illustrate various topics in math, and, more importantly, to help show what math is and what mathematicians do.

At first glance, Sudoku seems like a math game, because it involves numbers. A little thought reveals that the numbers could just as well be letters or any other symbols. They aren't added, subtracted or treated in any way like mathematical objects. But in Taking Sudoku Seriously Laura Taalman and Jason Rosenhouse show that there is, indeed, math behind Sudoku, not just in solving the puzzles (which involves use of a lot of logic, which has a lot in common with math) but in questions such as "How many Sudoku puzzles are there?"
"What makes one Sudoku puzzle different from another?"
"What are the minimum and maximum number of starting clues that give legitimate Sudoku puzzles?"
and other similar questions.

In addition, Rosenhouse and Taalman offer a lot of Sudoku puzzles and variations, together with hints on solving them.

But while the puzzles are fun, there are lots of sources for Sudoku puzzles. What makes Taking Sudoku Seriously unique is the math. Because math isn't addition and subtraction; math is a creative act. Math is human enterprise. Math is about playing around with puzzles and thoughts, in a particular way. Math is about conjectures and proofs. Math is hard, but math is fun (thinking about it, things that are really easy are rarely fun - do you have fun tying your shoes? Difficulty is essential).

In Taking Sudoku Seriously we get exposed to a lot of math: Algebra, group theory, statistics, combinatorics, algebra and graph theory. Of course, in a 200 page book, none of these can be covered in detail. That's fine. There are many textbooks on each of these subjects. Taking Sudoku Seriously gives us exposure to them in a playful way, without too much stress on formality.

If you teach math in middle school or above (and possibly below) Taking Sudoku Seriously will give you ideas for things you could do with your class. If you like math, Taking Sudoku Seriously will be a source of delight. Taking Sudoku Seriously could also be used as a book introducing adults to different fields of math, but most adults would require a teacher for most adults. Personally, I think a "math appreciation" course is a great idea.

Jason Rosenhouse is Associate Professor of Mathematics at James Madison University. He is also the author of The Monty Hall Problem: The Remarkable Story of the World's Most Contentious Brain Teaser. My review of that book is here. Laura Taalman is Professor of Mathematics at James Madison University and co-founder of Braintree Puzzles. She wrote a text on calculus, and three books of Sudoku puzzles. I'd love to take classes with either of them!

Taking Sudoku Seriously will be published Feb. 2, 2012 by Oxford University Press.