Âé¶¹´«Ã½

Puzzle #173: Can you find a three-digit "knight" number?

By Peter Rowlett

22 June 2022

#173 Knight moves

Âé¶¹´«Ã½. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

My son is obsessed with chess, and has been acting out the game’s moves everywhere we go, running like a bishop and jumping like a knight on tiled floors. He was tickled to see that on the number pad of my keyboard he could type 27 using a knight’s move, because the move from 2 to 7 is an L-shape, like a knight moves on a chessboard.

Alas, he can’t make 27 using a bishop move. Bishops move diagonally any number of spaces, so a bishop, using multiple moves, could make a number like 484 or 9157. In a similar fashion, a knight…

Sign up to our weekly newsletter

Receive a weekly dose of discovery in your inbox. We'll also keep you up to date with Âé¶¹´«Ã½ events and special offers.

Sign up

To continue reading, today with our introductory offers

or

Existing subscribers

Sign in to your account
Piano Exit Overlay Banner Mobile Piano Exit Overlay Banner Desktop