Researchers at the University of St Andrews are challenging people to claim $1m (£770,000) by finding the solution to a “simple” chess puzzle using a computer programme.
Computer programmers would be able to pocket the cash, which is offered by the Clay Mathematics Institute in America, if they found an efficient solution to the famous eight queens puzzle.
The puzzle requires a player to place eight chess queens on an 8×8 chessboard so that no two queens are threatening each other.
For an 8×8 chessboard, the solution requires that the queens don’t share the same row, column, or diagonal – the directions in which chess queens can move.
Originally devised in 1850, the 8×8 puzzle has been solved by humans – but once the size of the chess board increases enough, computer programmes have found it impossible to solve.
A paper published in the Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research concludes that the team led by Professor Ian Gent at the University of St Andrews noted a solution would provide enormous benefits to the world.
Professsor Gent said: “If you could write a computer programme that could solve the problem really fast, you could adapt it to solve many of the most important problems that affect us all daily.
“This includes trivial challenges like working out the largest group of your Facebook friends who don’t know each other, or very important ones like cracking the codes that keep all our online transactions safe.”
26 Responses
I will not even get near getting that much money.
This cannot be true
I might know how
Pretty awesome
Its easier said than done.
i’ve done it ! i can prove it i have a picture !!!
AMAZING
i solved it!!!
i solved it,it isn’t that hard
That proves that humans are smarter than computers
Absolutely no Idea, help?????
I solved it
i am a kid coder
I can solve this riddle
It’s not that hard to do
This is weird what riddle?
I don’t get this
i solved it!!!
Sorry just kidding But I really want to solve this it’s amazing ?
I did it. It was soooooooooo easy
Everyone is saying they did it… but you guys need to read the whole artical. It says that in order to get the prize, you need to create a computer program that can solve the puzzle really fast. So until you can create a computer program to do that, no $1 million dollars for you guys. 😉
Um actually this is a challenge to make a code that can solve the problem not to solve the problem by hand.
Hey guys, you may have solved the riddle, but the actual challenge is to generate a piece of code to solve the riddle. This code should be so advanced that it is able to rob banks. I doubt a kid can code something like that, right? Yep, it’s impossible.
Guys you’re supposed make a code that can solve the riddle! It’s easy to do it in real life, but you need to make a code that can solve the riddle!
that is a lot of money
did you know that the human brain is more complex then any super computer. i am only 9 3/4. he he he he