English

A $q$-Queens Problem. II. The Square Board

Combinatorics 2016-10-18 v3

Abstract

We apply to the n×nn\times n chessboard the counting theory from Part I for nonattacking placements of chess pieces with unbounded straight-line moves, such as the queen. Part I showed that the number of ways to place qq identical nonattacking pieces is given by a quasipolynomial function of nn of degree 2q2q, whose coefficients are (essentially) polynomials in qq that depend cyclically on nn. Here we study the periods of the quasipolynomial and its coefficients, which are bounded by functions, not well understood, of the piece's move directions, and we develop exact formulas for the very highest coefficients. The coefficients of the three highest powers of nn do not vary with nn. On the other hand, we present simple pieces for which the fourth coefficient varies periodically. We develop detailed properties of counting quasipolynomials that will be applied in sequels to partial queens, whose moves are subsets of those of the queen, and the nightrider, whose moves are extended knight's moves. We conclude with the first, though strange, formula for the classical nn-Queens Problem and with several conjectures and open problems.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1402.4880,
  title  = {A $q$-Queens Problem. II. The Square Board},
  author = {Seth Chaiken and Christopher R. H. Hanusa and Thomas Zaslavsky},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1402.4880},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

23 pp., 1 figure, submitted. This = second half of 1303.1879v1 with great improvements. V2 has a new proposition, better definitions, and corrected conjectures. V3 has results et al. renumbered to correspond with published version, and expands dictionary's cryptic abbreviations

R2 v1 2026-06-22T03:12:06.350Z