An alternative solution to n-puzzle problem

Abstract

The 3, 15 63 and n-1 puzzle problems are classical puzzle problem that has been celebrated for many years however, the conventional method for solving these problem is to use heuristic approach. Since the inception of these set of puzzle problems, researchers have made efforts to derive efficient methods of solving them. These methods require a lot of guessing that does not give a prescribed guideline to arrive at a possible solution. In this paper, an attempt was made to derive a procedure for solving n-1 puzzle problem, thereby, reducing guessing as much as possible. The derived procedure was tested on 3, 15 and 63, and the results got from the testing, were used to solven-1 puzzle problems. This paper has provided an alternative solution of how to solve n- puzzle problem, thereby reducing unnecessary guesses that were inherent in existing methods.

Keywords: 3-Puzzle Problem,15-Puzzle Problem, 63-Puzzle and Problem n-1, Puzzle Problem