Puzzle | 4×4 Grid of Light Switches

We are presented with a 4×4 grid of light switches, each capable of being in an on or off state. Toggling a switch alters its state and affects the states of its adjacent switches: those above, below, to the left, and the right. The goal is to discover a sequence of switch toggles that leads to all switches being turned off, starting from an initial arbitrary configuration.

Puzzle | 4×4 Grid of Light Switches

Below, is the code example of Puzzle | 4×4 grid of light switches in Python:

Install Necessary Library

First, we need to install a tkinter library for creating the Puzzle of a 4*4 grid of light switches. To install the tkinter use the below command.

pip install tkinter

Writing Code

In this example, the below code creates a simple GUI using Tkinter in Python, representing a light switch puzzle. It consists of a 5×5 grid of buttons initially displayed as black. Clicking on a button toggles its color between black and yellow, simulating turning a light on or off. The toggle_switch function updates the state of the switches, while the update_lights function visually updates the buttons based on the switch state.

Python3

import tkinter as tk

def toggle_switch(row, col):
    if switches[row][col] == 0:
        switches[row][col] = 1
    else:
        switches[row][col] = 0
    update_lights()


def update_lights():
    for row in range(5):
        for col in range(5):
            if switches[row][col] == 0:
                lights[row][col].configure(bg='black')
            else:
                lights[row][col].configure(bg='yellow')


window = tk.Tk()
window.title("Light Switch Puzzle")

switches = [[0 for _ in range(5)] for _ in range(5)]
lights = [[None for _ in range(5)] for _ in range(5)]

for row in range(5):
    for col in range(5):
        switch_button = tk.Button(
            window, width=10, height=5, bg='black', command=lambda r=row, c=col: toggle_switch(r, c))
        switch_button.grid(row=row, column=col, padx=5, pady=5)
        lights[row][col] = switch_button

window.mainloop()

Output:

Puzzle | 4×4 grid of light switches