Related papers: A simple proof that the $(n^2-1)$-puzzle is hard
We analyze the computational complexity of several new variants of edge-matching puzzles. First we analyze inequality (instead of equality) constraints between adjacent tiles, proving the problem NP-complete for strict inequalities but…
{\em Reoptimization} is a setting in which we are given an (near) optimal solution of a problem instance and a local modification that slightly changes the instance. The main goal is that of finding an (near) optimal solution of the…
We consider the problem of determining the minimum number of moves needed to solve a certain one-dimensional peg puzzle. Let N be a positive integer. The puzzle apparatus consists of a block with a single row of 2N+1 equally spaced holes…
A chessboard has the property that every row and every column has as many white squares as black squares. In this mostly methodological note, we address the problem of counting such rectangular arrays with a fixed (numeric) number of rows,…
We prove that the set of $n$-point configurations for which the solution of the planar Steiner problem is not unique has the Hausdorff dimension at most $2n-1$ (as a subset of $\mathbb{R}^{2n}$). Moreover, we show that the Hausdorff…
We consider the problem of embedding the Steiner points of a Steiner tree with given topology into the rectilinear plane. Thereby, the length of the path between a distinguished terminal and each other terminal must not exceed given length…
The Polyline Bundle Simplification (PBS) problem is a generalization of the classical polyline simplification problem. Given a set of polylines, which may share line segments and points, PBS asks for the smallest consistent simplification…
On the n x n chessboard, the move totals of distinct pieces satisfy a small number of striking arithmetic identities. The total diagonal mobility of the bishop and the total 8-neighbor mobility of the king are exactly proportional, with…
We consider the Steiner tree problem on graphs where we are given a set of nodes and the goal is to find a tree sub-graph of minimum weight that contains all nodes in the given set, potentially including additional nodes. This is a…
The $n$-queens puzzle is to place $n$ mutually non-attacking queens on an $n \times n$ chessboard. We present a simple two stage randomized algorithm to construct such configurations. In the first stage, a random greedy algorithm constructs…
Consider $n^2-1$ unit-square blocks in an $n \times n$ square board, where each block is labeled as movable horizontally (only), movable vertically (only), or immovable -- a variation of Rush Hour with only $1 \times 1$ cars and fixed…
In combinatorial reconfiguration, the reconfiguration problems on a vertex subset (e.g., an independent set) are well investigated. In these problems, some tokens are placed on a subset of vertices of the graph, and there are three natural…
This paper is concerned with the problem of finding $n$ distinct squares such that, on excluding any one of them, the sum of the remaining $n-1$ squares is a square. While parametric solutions are known when $n=3$ and $n=4$, when $n > 4$,…
Various forms of sorting problems have been studied over the years. Recently, two kinds of sorting puzzle apps are popularized. In these puzzles, we are given a set of bins filled with colored units, balls or water, and some empty bins.…
We study several variations of line segment covering problem with axis-parallel unit squares in $I\!\!R^2$. A set $S$ of $n$ line segments is given. The objective is to find the minimum number of axis-parallel unit squares which cover at…
We investigate the reconfiguration of $n$ blocks, or "tokens", in the square grid using "line pushes". A line push is performed from one of the four cardinal directions and pushes all tokens that are maximum in that direction to the…
In the recently introduced framework of solution discovery via reconfiguration [Fellows et al., ECAI 2023], we are given an initial configuration of $k$ tokens on a graph and the question is whether we can transform this configuration into…
Holzer and Holzer (Discrete Applied Mathematics 144(3):345--358, 2004) proved that the Tantrix(TM) rotation puzzle problem is NP-complete. They also showed that for infinite rotation puzzles, this problem becomes undecidable. We study the…
We consider algorithmic problems motivated by modular robotic reconfiguration in the sliding square model, in which we are given $n$ square-shaped modules in a (labeled or unlabeled) start configuration and need to find a schedule of…
We study two well-known reconfiguration problems. Given a start and a target configuration of geometric objects in a polygon, we wonder whether we can move the objects from the start configuration to the target configuration while avoiding…