I think the first puzzle would be difficult for an average human to solve unless they are good with math. Because how would you know that your solution is optimal? You can notice a theorem that if a solution never moved any piece away from its target, then it’s optimal, and then realize that this puzzle does allow such a solution, but this requires to have experience with mathematical reasoning.
I agree that finding the optimal solution would be hard for a person who wasn’t good at math. Noticing that you made an invalid move once your attention is drawn to it doesn’t require you to be good at math, though. And even a person who wasn’t good at math could still at least try to figure out some way to determine it, even if they still ended up failing miserably.
I think the first puzzle would be difficult for an average human to solve unless they are good with math. Because how would you know that your solution is optimal? You can notice a theorem that if a solution never moved any piece away from its target, then it’s optimal, and then realize that this puzzle does allow such a solution, but this requires to have experience with mathematical reasoning.
I agree that finding the optimal solution would be hard for a person who wasn’t good at math. Noticing that you made an invalid move once your attention is drawn to it doesn’t require you to be good at math, though. And even a person who wasn’t good at math could still at least try to figure out some way to determine it, even if they still ended up failing miserably.