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Consortium for Mathematics and its Applications

Product ID: 99802
Supplementary Print
Undergraduate

Turning All Lights Out (UMAP)

Author: Crista Arangala, J. Todd Lee, Ellen Mir, and Brianna Yoho


We solve the Lights Out puzzle twice, once by means of matrix algebra and again using graph theory, and consider variations of the puzzle.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. A Linear Algebra Approach
3. A Graph-Theory Approach
4. Odd Dominance
5. General Solution for Lights Out
6. Further Questions
7. Solutions to the Exercises
References
Acknowledgments About the Authors

©2010 by COMAP, Inc.
UMAP Module
26 pages

Mathematics Topics:

Discrete & Finite Mathematics , Abstract & Linear Algebra

Application Areas:

Sports & Recreation , Puzzles, Recreational Mathematics

Prerequisites:

Matrix multiplication, dot product of vectors,vector subspaces, concept of a graph.

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