t_puzzle_gui

t_puzzle_gui, a MATLAB code which sets up a graphical user interface for the T puzzle, by Cleve Moler.

The original T puzzle is a set of 4 wooden pieces. The challenge is to arrange the pieces to form the shape of the letter T. Three other challenge shapes are an arrow, a rhombus, and a "fat" T.

The program displays the four pieces on the screen and allows the user to select a piece, translate it, rotate it, or reflect it, in an attempt to reconstruct the challenge shape.

• Click near the center of one of the four pieces to drag it.
• Click near a vertex of a piece to rotate it.
• Right click or control click on a piece to change its orientation.
• Click on the subplot to cycle through the challenge shapes.

Languages:

t_puzzle_gui is available in a MATLAB version.

Author:

Cleve Moler

Reference:

• Martin Gardner,
  Mathematical Games: Advertising premiums to beguile the mind: classics by Sam Loyd, master puzzle poser,
  Scientific American,
  Volume 225, Number 5, pages 114-121, November 1971.
• Cleve Moler,
  Experiments with MATLAB,
  ebook: https://www.mathworks.com/moler/exm/index.html
• https://www.mathworks.com/moler/exm/chapters.html , the chapters of the EXM book.
• https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/37977-experiments-with-matlab the accompanying MATLAB codes, images, and other data files.

Related Data and Programs:

boundary_word_right, a MATLAB code which describes the outline of an object on a grid of isoceles right triangles, using a string of symbols that represent the sequence of steps tracing out the boundary.

exm, a MATLAB code which illustrates the computational experiments in "Experiments with Matlab", by Cleve Moler.

t_puzzle, a MATLAB code which considers the T puzzle, a set of 4 wooden pieces. The challenge is to arrange the pieces to form the shape of the letter T. Three other challenge shapes are an arrow, a rhombus, and a "fat" T.

t_puzzle_cplex_test, a BASH code which calls cplex(), to read the LP file defining the T-puzzle tiling problem, solve the linear programming problem, and write the solution to a file.

t_puzzle_gurobi_test, a BASH code which calls gurobi(), to read the LP file defining the T-puzzle tiling problem, solve the linear programming problem, and write the solution to a file.

Source Code:

• t_puzzle_gui.m, the source code.