Unique Symbol Combination

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Rudi
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Unique Symbol Combination

Post by Rudi »

You are working with a 4x4 grid as in this image:

Image
Place one of these four characters: @ # $ % in each of the sixteen squares so that no character appears more than once in any row, any column, or any of the two main diagonals.

Use Excel or any suitable app to complete the puzzle.
Then take a screen capture/image of your solution and paste it into this thread (between spoiler tags) to supply your answer.
There may be more than one solution based on different combinations of the four characters, but any valid solution must comply with the parameters above.
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Rudi

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StuartR
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Re: Unique Symbol Combination

Post by StuartR »

Spoiler
@#$%.png
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StuartR


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Rudi
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Re: Unique Symbol Combination

Post by Rudi »

Excellent Stuart, but you didn't have to name the solution with some swear word!! :laugh:
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Rudi

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StuartR
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Re: Unique Symbol Combination

Post by StuartR »

:censored: Rudi
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Re: Unique Symbol Combination

Post by Rudi »

:tongue:
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HansV
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Re: Unique Symbol Combination

Post by HansV »

Spoiler
If we take @ # $ % as the first row, as Stuart has done, there are only 2 solutions: the one given by Stuart, and
S0303.png
i.e. a cyclic shift of rows 2, 3 and 4.
Since there are 4*3*2*1 = 24 possible permutations of the characters in row 1, the total number of solutions is 2*24 = 48.
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Hans

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Re: Unique Symbol Combination

Post by Rudi »

Thanks for those mathematical insights. I'll take your word for it.

My attempt uses a different combination from Stuart's (and yours), but nevertheless, a valid solution to...
Spoiler
4x4 Puzzle.jpg
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Rudi

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HansV
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Re: Unique Symbol Combination

Post by HansV »

That's a valid solution indeed. It can be obtained from the one given by me by changing # to $, $ to % and % to #, so it's one of the 24 permutations of that one.
You can get any solution by taking either of the two solutions given earlier and shuffling the characters.
Best wishes,
Hans