July 19, 2007

A Presbyterian College student has been exploring one of the most popular uses of mathematics this summer - doing research on sudoku puzzles as a participant in the college's inaugural Summer Fellows program.

David Hetu, a rising junior from Summerville, S.C., has been working with PC associate professor of mathematics Dr. Greg Goeckel on categorizing solved puzzles.

"Instead of coming up with the number of solved puzzles, we've tried to take the puzzles and classify them into groups," Hetu said.

Most sudoku enthusiasts might envy a summer with the puzzles as particularly leisurely - especially if they didn't fully understand the nature of his research.

Hetu's project is similar to doctoral work conducted by Goeckel in which he studied math concepts reminiscent of sudoku. As the six-week program progressed this summer, Hetu first read scholarly papers on the popular puzzles and learned the math that went with it. He also worked on developing new puzzles and analyzing old ones on a computer. Currently he and Goeckel are working on the finished product - a paper Hetu will present later this month on a few new classifications no one else has discovered or documented.

"I've been working him hard," said Goeckel.

In other words, studying sudoku was not at all like solving sudoku.

"I work on them sometimes but it was getting to the point where I've worked enough of them that it gets repetitive after awhile," he said. "I'm definitely interested in how they work, though. That's interesting."

And fun, said Goeckel - especially working with a student on research.

"I've been able to say to David, this is a direction I think we should go and we'll take a look at it," he said. "Maybe he's found the right and good alley and sometimes he walks up to a big wall. That's what experimentation is.

"(David)'s been great. I tell him to try something and he does it. If there's a lot of math he has to learn or read about, he goes out and does it. He’s a great student to work with - and I say that from the bottom of my heart."

Hetu said he hopes other students will take part in the Summer Fellows Program in the summers to come - but only if they're willing to challenge themselves.

"If you're willing to do the work - then, yes, I would recommend it," he said. "But if you want a 'sit around a do nothing' summer - then, no." It's been a really good learning experience, if nothing else - getting in touch with some math I wouldn't otherwise get to do and doing some real research that isn't a class assignment."

The son of Doug and Carol Hetu of Summerville, Hetu is a math and accounting major at PC.

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