[TriPython] TriPython April 2019 Meeting: Solving Pentomino Puzzles with Python

[Calloway, Chris]

Rex regales us with Python Pentomino Puzzles:

http://tripython.org/Members/cbc/apr-19-mtg

When: Thursday, April 25, 7pm
Where: Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI), Biltmore Conference Room, 5th Floor, 100 Europa Drive, Suite 590, Chapel Hill
What:

“””
Rex Dwyer (https://github.com/rexdwyer) will present.

2018 marked the 60th anniversary of the first solution of a combinatorial puzzle by computer. In 1958, Dana Scott (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dana_Scott), later a Turing Award winner for his work in denotational semantics, programmed the MANIAC computer (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MANIAC_I) to find all solutions to a pentomino (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentomino) problem by backtracking. (I contacted Dana, one of my old professors, to take note of the anniversary in December 2018. He can still get very excited about pentominoes!)

What are pentominoes, and why have they retained their appeal ever since they were first described by the famous puzzler Henry Dudeney (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Dudeney) in The Canterbury Puzzles #74 (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/27635/27635-h/27635-h.htm) in 1907? Who is the High Priestess of Pentominoes? How many different ways can money be made from pentominos? What are some interesting open pentomino problems? What new puzzles can be devised? How can Python help us? Inquiring minds, including Dana Scott, Don Knuth, Solomon Golomb, Martin Gardner, and Arthur C. Clarke -- they all want (or wanted) to know.

Rex Dwyer earned the PhD in Computer Science at Carnegie-Mellon University and the MS in Economics and Latin American Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill. He has been working (mostly) in the biotech industry for two decades. Since 2017, he has worked as a Senior Data Scientist at Metabolon (https://www.metabolon.com/), the world's leader in advancing metabolomics for every area of life sciences research. In 2018, his predictive software drove the elucidation of more than 200 new compounds in mass spec data. Rex has been building and designing wooden puzzles for almost a decade.

Extemporaneous "lightning talks" of 5-10 minute duration are also welcome and don't need to be pre-announced. Lightning talks are for you to "show and tell" something you've learned about Python recently, no matter how small. We all use Python, therefore, we are always learning something new about Python that we can tell others. Plenty of free parking is available in the RENCI parking deck. The meeting will be followed by our usual after-meeting at a nearby tavern for food and beverage. Come join us for a fun and informative evening.
“””

--
Sincerely,

Chris Calloway
Applications Analyst
University of North Carolina
Renaissance Computing Institute
(919) 599-3530

-------------- next part --------------
   Rex regales us with Python Pentomino Puzzles:



   [1]http://tripython.org/Members/cbc/apr-19-mtg



   When: Thursday, April 25, 7pm

   Where: Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI), Biltmore Conference Room,
   5th Floor, 100 Europa Drive, Suite 590, Chapel Hill

   What:



   """

   Rex Dwyer ([2]https://github.com/rexdwyer) will present.

   2018 marked the 60th anniversary of the first solution of a combinatorial
   puzzle by computer. In 1958, Dana Scott
   ([3]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dana_Scott), later a Turing Award winner
   for his work in denotational semantics, programmed the MANIAC computer
   ([4]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MANIAC_I) to find all solutions to a
   pentomino ([5]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentomino) problem by
   backtracking. (I contacted Dana, one of my old professors, to take note of
   the anniversary in December 2018. He can still get very excited about
   pentominoes!)

   What are pentominoes, and why have they retained their appeal ever since
   they were first described by the famous puzzler Henry Dudeney
   ([6]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Dudeney) in The Canterbury Puzzles
   #74 ([7]http://www.gutenberg.org/files/27635/27635-h/27635-h.htm) in 1907?
   Who is the High Priestess of Pentominoes? How many different ways can
   money be made from pentominos? What are some interesting open pentomino
   problems? What new puzzles can be devised? How can Python help us?
   Inquiring minds, including Dana Scott, Don Knuth, Solomon Golomb, Martin
   Gardner, and Arthur C. Clarke -- they all want (or wanted) to know.

   Rex Dwyer earned the PhD in Computer Science at Carnegie-Mellon University
   and the MS in Economics and Latin American Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill. He
   has been working (mostly) in the biotech industry for two decades. Since
   2017, he has worked as a Senior Data Scientist at Metabolon
   ([8]https://www.metabolon.com/), the world's leader in advancing
   metabolomics for every area of life sciences research. In 2018, his
   predictive software drove the elucidation of more than 200 new compounds
   in mass spec data. Rex has been building and designing wooden puzzles for
   almost a decade.

   Extemporaneous "lightning talks" of 5-10 minute duration are also welcome
   and don't need to be pre-announced. Lightning talks are for you to "show
   and tell" something you've learned about Python recently, no matter how
   small. We all use Python, therefore, we are always learning something new
   about Python that we can tell others. Plenty of free parking is available
   in the RENCI parking deck. The meeting will be followed by our usual
   after-meeting at a nearby tavern for food and beverage. Come join us for a
   fun and informative evening.

   """



   --

   Sincerely,



   Chris Calloway

   Applications Analyst

   University of North Carolina

   Renaissance Computing Institute

   (919) 599-3530



References

   Visible links
   1. http://tripython.org/Members/cbc/apr-19-mtg
   2. https://github.com/rexdwyer
	https://github.com/rexdwyer
   3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dana_Scott
	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dana_Scott
   4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MANIAC_I
	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MANIAC_I
   5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentomino
	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentomino
   6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Dudeney
	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Dudeney
   7. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/27635/27635-h/27635-h.htm
	http://www.gutenberg.org/files/27635/27635-h/27635-h.htm
   8. https://www.metabolon.com/
	https://www.metabolon.com/