Question

Would anyone help me with this sudoku puzzle? It's for my discrete math class and I'm awful at these. I have no idea how to do them.

Answer 1

I'm not sure why it's color coded in this way

Answer 2

oh you treat each color block as an 3x3 block?

Answer 3

I think I figured out the upper orange block

Answer 4

color coding is a way to define related blocks .... there are more than just the 9x9 puzzles

Answer 5

lol, this is a 9x9, but yeah

Answer 6

i wrote up a 5x5 solver same concepts.

figure out what you need, and what you can place; narrow down the options

Answer 7

If it helps, it's called a loco puzzle. Each color group has to have number 1-9, as well as the columns and the rows.

Answer 8

Notice the upper right orange block

Answer 9

good luck ;)

Answer 10

In the middle of this orange block, you can't have 5 or 3 (they are in the column already)

so they must go in the 2 cells that line the outside of the upper right orange block

Answer 11

Okay, that makes sense.

Answer 12

also, notice how 5 is in the same row that is lined up with the lower-most portion of the upper right orange block

so a 5 cannot go in the cell on the left, it must go in the cell on the right

Answer 13

so that leaves 3 to go in that cell

Answer 14

Right. I got that!

Answer 15

so we have this so far

Answer 16

Yep.

Answer 17

That's all I could figure out about the orange block (so ignore that comment about me figuring out the entire block)

However, I also noticed how there are 9s in the bottom 2 rows (1 per row)

so because there isn't a 9 in the lower right blue block, this means there has to be a 9 in the uppermost cell of that blue block

then that forces a 9 to be in the very middle of the purple block above it (see attached)

Answer 18

Got it! You're helping a lot; I really appreciate this.

Answer 19

I honestly wish there was a more interactive way to show you (instead of posting attachments like this), but I guess this works

Answer 20

Haha I know what you mean.

Answer 21

anyways, 7 must be in the lower-right blue block

notice how we have 7s in the 3 columns on the right side (the last 3 columns)

so that forces 7 to be in the last remaining cell in the lower-right blue block (see attached)

Answer 22

7 must also be in that brown block (that looks like an F)

Through elimination, we conclude that 7 must be here (see attached)

Answer 23

Makes sense.

Answer 24

Through even more elimination, we can conclude that 5s are in the brown and grey block (see attached)

Answer 25

Now I'm going to focus on the last 3 columns again

4 is in column #7 (orange block)

So column #7 will have no more 4s in it

That forces 4 to be in column #9 for the purple block below it

What does this mean? Well 4 is in column 7 (orange block) and in column 9 (purple block)

4 needs to be in column #8, but it can't be in column 8 in the orange block or the purple block, or the blue block. So 4 has to be in column 8 in the beige (or light brown?) block

There's only one cell that fits where 4 could go

Answer 26

Woo! Alright. I have someone here to help me now, so thank you so much for your help!

Answer 27

Alright, I'm glad someone is there to help you in real time (as opposed to this slow method lol)

Answer 28

Yeah! But seriously, thank you!

Answer 29

you're welcome