{{italic title}} {{Infobox book | image = Algorithmic Puzzles.jpg | author = Anany Levitin, Maria Levitin | pub_date = 2011 | publisher = Oxford University Press | caption = First edition }}
'''''Algorithmic Puzzles''''' is a book of puzzles based on computational thinking. It was written by computer scientists Anany and Maria Levitin, and published in 2011 by Oxford University Press.
==Topics== The book begins with a "tutorial" introducing classical algorithm design techniques including backtracking, divide-and-conquer algorithms, and dynamic programming, methods for the analysis of algorithms, and their application in example puzzles.{{r|gasarch|rosebrock}} The puzzles themselves are grouped into three sets of 50 puzzles, in increasing order of difficulty. A final two chapters provide brief hints and more detailed solutions to the puzzles,{{r|rosebrock}} with the solutions forming the majority of pages of the book.{{r|griffiths}}
Some of the puzzles are well known classics, some are variations of known puzzles making them more algorithmic, and some are new.{{r|narayanan}} They include: *Puzzles involving chessboards, including the eight queens puzzle, knight's tours, and the mutilated chessboard problem{{r|gasarch|griffiths|narayanan}} *Balance puzzles{{r|griffiths}} *River crossing puzzles{{r|griffiths|narayanan}} *The Tower of Hanoi{{r|narayanan}} *Finding the missing element in a data stream{{r|gasarch}} *The geometric median problem for Manhattan distance{{r|gasarch}}
==Audience and reception== The puzzles in the book cover a wide range of difficulty, and in general do not require more than a high school level of mathematical background.{{r|griffiths}} William Gasarch notes that grouping the puzzles only by their difficulty and not by their themes is actually an advantage, as it provides readers with fewer clues about their solutions.{{r|gasarch}}
Reviewer Narayanan Narayanan recommends the book to any puzzle aficionado, or to anyone who wants to develop their powers of algorithmic thinking.{{r|narayanan}} Reviewer Martin Griffiths suggests another group of readers, schoolteachers and university instructors in search of examples to illustrate the power of algorithmic thinking.{{r|griffiths}} Gasarch recommends the book to any computer scientist, evaluating it as "a delight".{{r|gasarch}}
==References== <references>
<ref name=gasarch>{{citation | last = Gasarch | first = William | authorlink = William Gasarch | date = December 2013 | doi = 10.1145/2556663.2556674 | issue = 4 | journal = ACM SIGACT News | pages = 47–48 | title = Review of ''Algorithmic Puzzles'' | url = https://www.cs.umd.edu/~gasarch/bookrev/44-4.pdf | volume = 44}}</ref>
<ref name=griffiths>{{citation | last = Griffiths | first = Martin | date = March 2014 | issue = 541 | journal = The Mathematical Gazette | jstor = 24496640 | page = 188 | title = Review of ''Algorithmic Puzzles'' | volume = 98| doi = 10.1017/S0025557200001182 }}</ref>
<ref name=narayanan>{{citation|title=Review of ''Algorithmic Puzzles''|first=Narayanan|last=Narayanan|year=2012|journal=Mathematical Reviews|mr=2866446}}</ref>
<ref name=rosebrock>{{citation|title=Review of ''Algorithmic Puzzles''|first=Stephan|last=Rosebrock|journal=zbMATH|zbl=1233.00005}}</ref>
</references>
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Category:Algorithms Category:Puzzle books Category:2011 non-fiction books Category:Oxford University Press books