MATC Matters

MATC Math Club invites you to its monthly meeting on Monday, November 12, in Room 209 at Truax at 3:30 p.m.

Professor John Kiltinen, Northern Michigan University, will discuss “The math behind the ‘15′ puzzles and the other permutation puzzles”

The familiar “15″ puzzle that has 15 numbered tiles and one blank space on a 4 by 4 frame provides an entry point for some interesting mathematics that one typically encounters in about a junior‑level course in abstract algebra. In this talk, the speaker will introduce ideas such as the parity of a scramble on this puzzle using his own puzzle software, and discuss why this is relevant to the solvability of the scramble. As time permits, the principles will be applied to variants of the standard puzzle which the software allows one to create.

Reassurance: This talk will not require knowledge of any advanced math.