International Journal of Computer Applications (0975 – 8887)

Volume 178 – No. 43, August 2019

Sudoku Solving Ability and Intelligence

Onokpasa Eva Bisandu Desmond Ikoojo Simon

Department of Computer Science, Department of Computer Science, Department of Computer Science,
University of Jos University of Jos University of Jos

ABSTRACT IQ = mental age ÷ chronological age × 100.

Sudoku is a challenging, interesting and brain tasking game. Is A person’s mental age is determined by his performance in
there a correlation between human intelligence and human Intelligence quotient tests. The following section consider
Sudoku solving ability? This research work uses as a case some of these IQ tests
study, a class of third year computer science students of the
University of Jos, to determine whether there exists a 2.2 Binet-Simon IQ test
correlation between an individual’s Sudoku solving ability Alfred Binet, Victor Henri and Théodore Simon worked
and his intelligence. together to create the Binet-Simon test in 1905. This test was
originally designed to reveal a child’s mental age[4]. This test
Keywords is designed by testing children of a specific age, e.g an 8 year
Sudoku, human intelligence, intelligence quotient and old child would take an IQ test designed for 8 year olds, and
correlation. this means that this test is designed such that most normal 8
1. INTRODUCTION year olds will have average scores on this test. However 8
This research work is aimed at establishing whether or not a year olds with learning disabilities will have lower scores and
correlation exists between human intelligence and human smarter 8 year olds will have higher scores.
Sudoku solving ability. Now, to achieve this it is important to
clearly define and understand the definitions and measures of 2.3 Stanford-Binet IQ test
human intelligence. This will be discussed in the next section. In 1916 Lewis M. Terman of Stanford university made an
In the methodology and evaluation sections, a comparison is improvement to the Binet-Simon test, and this test is known as
made of the results of the performance of 29 university the Standford-Binet test.
students in an IQ test as against their performance in solving 6
sudoku puzzles of varying levels of difficulties. In the 2.4 Wechsler Adult lntelligence Scale
concluding section a summary of the findings are stated. David Wechsler developed the first standardized
adult intelligence test, the Bellevue-Wechsler Scale, in 1939,
2. LITERATURE REVIEW the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, published in
“Intelligence is the ability to think, to learn from experience, 1949 and revised in 1974, are acclaimed today as the best tests
to solve problems, and to adapt to new situations” [1]. The for measuring intelligence [5].
measure of human intelligence or cognitive ability is
controversial. However this review focuses on what most 3. METHODOLOGY
psychologists have come to agree on with respect to human In this research work a class of third year undergraduate
intelligence. Charles spearman called the construct that the students of Computer science at the University of Jos, were
different abilities and skills measured on intelligence tests used as the case study. Their ages fall between the range of 20
have in common the general intelligence factor (g) [2]. Most – 25 years. There are 13 females 16 males. They were each
psychologists believe that people with higher g learn faster. handed 6 sudoku puzzles to solve within 72 hours. These
Next, a definition is given for intelligence quotient and some puzzles were taken from [6 & 7]. After retrieving their
of the various IQ (Intelligence quotient) tests. Sudoku solutions, they were given a 6 minute Wechsler Adult
intelligence test available at [8]. Their Sudoku solutions were
2.1 Intelligence Quotient scored based on how many blank cells they filled in correctly
Intelligence quotient (IQ), is “a measure of intelligence that is divided by the total blank cells and multiplying the result by
adjusted for age” [3]. Below is the mathematical formula for 100. The scores are summarized in table 1.
IQ:

Wechsler Adult Intelligence (WAIT) test

Student Sudoku score (%)
scores (%)
1 42.03 40
2 75.93 45
3 54.24 50
4 57.63 35
5 63.39 55
6 52.88 45
7 64.41 50

1
 International Journal of Computer Applications (0975 – 8887)
Volume 178 – No. 43, August 2019

8 55.59 25
9 67.46 55
10 70.51 40
11 74.92 30
12 41.69 55
13 57.97 45
14 84.41 65
15 81.69 45
16 47.46 70
17 79.66 75
18 74.24 90
19 85.08 90
20 40.34 55
21 28.47 50
22 48.47 60
23 25.42 35
24 57.97 75
25 44.07 60
26 38.98 60

27 36.27 35
28 98.98 40
29 91.53 20

Table 1. Sudoku scores and Wechsler Adult Intelligence test scores obtained by 29 university undergraduate students

4. DETERMINING AND EVALUATING is made of the result displayed in table 1. This is displayed in
figure 1.
THE DEGREE OF CORRELATION
To determine graphically the degree of correlation between
the Sudoku scores obtained and the WAIT scores a scatter plot

100
90 Line of best fit
80
70
sudoku 60
50
40
30
20
10
Some outliers
0
which distort the
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
trend
WAIT score(%)

Fig 1. The scatter plot diagram shows each student’s Sudoku score against their score in the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Test
(WAIT)

2
 International Journal of Computer Applications (0975 – 8887)
Volume 178 – No. 43, August 2019

Next, the correlation coefficient between the Sudoku scores a specialized IQ test (say arithmetic or algebraic) was taken
and the WAIT score is calculated using the Pearson’s instead of a general IQ test, would the correlation between the
correlation coefficient formula [9]: Sudoku scores and IQ scores be stronger? These questions
would be answered in future researches.

6. REFERENCES
[1] University of Minnesota (2018)Introduction to
0.319752 Psychology, Defining and Measuring
Where is the WAIT scores and y is the Sudoku scores and n Intelligencehttps://open.lib.umn.edu/intropsyc/chapter/9-
the number of students used in this case study. 1-defining-and-measuring-intelligence/

Since r ranges from 0 to 0.5 this implies a weak positive [2] Gottfredson, L. S. (1997). Mainstream science on
correlation between the Sudoku scores and the WAIT test intelligence: An editorial with 52 signatories, history and
scores. Also the scatter plot shown in fig 1 shows an uphill bibliography. Intelligence, 24(1), 13–23..
trend from left to right for majority of the points except for a [3] Glossary of Important Assessment and Measurement
few outliers, which distort the trend. Next the least square Terms.(2016)Philadelphia, PA: National Council on
method is employed to determine the line of best fit. Measurement in Education. 2016. intelligence quotient
The equation of a straight line is given by (IQ). Retrieved 2017-07-01.
[4] Kaufman, Alan S. (2009).IQ Testing 101. New York:
Springer Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8261-0629-2. Lay
Where m=slope and c is the intercept with the y-axis. summary(10 August 2010).
From the least square method [10] [5] Garraty J. & Carnes, M. (1999)"Wechsler, David."
In American national biography Vol 22. New York:
Oxford University Press, 1999.
[6] www.sudoku.org.uk
(2018)http://www.sudoku.org.uk/Daily.aspAccessed:20/
03/2019
Applying the formulas above gives the values: [7] www.aisudoku.com
(2006)http://www.aisudoku.com/index_en.htmlAccessed
:20/03/2019
with the values for m and c above a line of best fit is drawn as
shown in fig 1. This line has a very gentle positive slope, this [8] free-iqtest (2018)http://www.free-iqtest.net[Accessed
indicates a very weak positive correlation. 01/01/2019]
[9] Pearson K. (1895) Notes on regression and inheritance in
5. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK the case of two parents, Proceedings of the Royal Society
From this case study it can be concluded that an individual of London, 58 : 240–242.
who is skilled at solving Sudoku puzzles likely has a high
general IQ. The results of the weak correlation between [10] Charnes, A., Frome, E. L.& Yu, P. L. (1976). The
Sudoku scores and the WAIT test indicates that in some cases Equivalence of Generalized Least Squares and Maximum
a high Sudoku doesn’t necessarily mean a high general IQ. Likelihood Estimates in the Exponential Family. Journal
But this study was limited to a case. Would the result differ if of the American Statistical Association. 71 (353): 169–
a larger population of individuals were under studied? What if 171.doi:10.1080/01621459.1976.10481508.

IJCATM : www.ijcaonline.org 3