Marc van Kreveld

Date: 16:00 – 16:30, Thursday, 22.10.2020
Location: Teams ICS Colloquium

Title: Gourds: a sliding block puzzle with rotation
Abstract: Sliding block puzzles appeared first in the 19th century.; they have been studied extensively in recreational mathematics and in computer science. Well-known examples are the 15-puzzle and Rush Hour. In the talk I will present a new puzzle where pieces can also turn. This version has pieces with colors and boards of different sizes and shapes. I will describe the history of our research, which includes the reasons for designing the puzzle as we did, and will explain some theoretical results (but will avoid lengthy technical proofs).

Joint research with Joep Hamersma, Yushi Uno, and Tom van der Zanden