Personal Motivations
I grew up as a child with this puzzle in my house. My mother could solve it, along with a couple members on her side of the family.
Mum never knew the algorithm, nor any techniques beyond “My hand just knows”; as a result I spent 4 determined days in my youth working it until I had solved it.
the one on my own coffee table
Topics Set Theory & Boolean Algebra Logic & Proof Techniques Combinatorics & Counting Graph Theory Number Theory (Divisibility, Modular Arithmetic) Recurrence Relations Finite Automata & Formal Languages Discrete Probability
Important Theorems De Morgan’s Laws (Logic & Boolean Algebra) Pigeonhole Principle (Combinatorics) Inclusion-Exclusion Principle (Counting) Euler’s Formula for Graphs ( Handshaking Lemma ( Chinese Remainder Theorem (Number Theory) Fermat’s Little Theorem ( RSA Cryptosystem & Modular Inverses Master Theorem (Recurrence Relations)