LogikLöser Manual

After the applet has initialised, you see the following picture (design and size can vary):

The squares to be marked with minus or plus are probably well-known to you. Further downwards, there is a scrollable list with all the available terms. On the right side, there are four buttons which will be described later.

The terms that are included in the first place are only examples. Normally, you will not use those. You have to enter the correct ones first. To do this, click "Settings". The screen changes to the following layout:

Firstly, you may have to set the correct number of categories and terms per category. Categories are word families, e. g. last name, first name, profession. Terms are concrete objects which head rows and columns, e. g. Doe, John, carpenter. In the example shown above, there are 4 categories with 5 terms each, 20 terms in total. You should enter these terms into the coresponding text fields. The best way is to klick "Clear all" first. You have to enter all items of a category in one row. To jump to the next field, press the tab key or use the mouse pointer.

Using the listbox menu "Support", you can toggle the automatic solver.

Just below that menu you can choose the shape of the grid presentation. "triangular" is the classical shape. "quadratic" is more symmetric. In the latter layout, users interested in the underlying theory can recognize graphical connections. This is the shape the applet works with internally. On the other hand, it uses much more screen space.

If you have altered something unintentionally and you want to revert it, click "Revert". All the fields are set back to the values they had before switchting to the settings view.

Finally, you return to the normal view by clicking "Apply".

Now you should enter the hints of the puzzle into the matrix by setting a plus or a minus sign in the corresponding squares. To set a minus sign, click the left mouse button. To set a plus sign, click the right mouse button or click the left mouse button while pressing down the alt key.

If you have switched on the automatic solver, a list of terms will appear on the bottom of the screen. Terms which are recognized to be related are collapsed into a common line. When the puzzle is solved, there should be no more entries than items per category, so you cannot scroll the list any more.

You cannot enter "relative hints" like "the Mrs X.'s street number is larger by 2 than Mr. Y' street number" directly. You have to rely on your own conclusions in this case. Alone entering such hints would be far too difficult to make it worthwhile.

In this way, you should enter one hint after the other: There might be still large gaps, but with the last hint, everything should fill up.

Using the buttons on the right side you can go back and forth stepwise.

Automatic Solver

If you have switched on the automatic solver, all logically implied conlusions from the set squares are drawn automatically. The signs that you have entered yourself are shown in red. The other ones (black) are those which are concluded by the program. If you have made a mistake you can remove these signs again, but only those that you have entered. Just click another time in the same way. All conlusions drawn from that statement are taken back. If you want to enter a hint whose statement is already inferred, you can still enter it anyway. The sign will turn red and will be treated not only as a conlusion, but as a hint.