Related papers: Gourds: a sliding-block puzzle with turning
In this paper we study colorings (or tilings) of the two-dimensional grid $\mathbb{Z}^2$. A coloring is said to be valid with respect to a set $P$ of $n\times m$ rectangular patterns if all $n\times m$ sub-patterns of the coloring are in…
We count tilings of the $n \times m$ rectangular grid, cylinder, and torus with arbitrary tile sets up to arbitrary symmetries of the square and rectangle, along with cyclic shifting of rows and columns. This provides a unifying framework…
In this paper I present a conjecture for a recursive algorithm that finds each permutation of combining two sets of objects (AKA the Shuffle Product). This algorithm provides an efficient way to navigate this problem, as each atomic…
In 2022, Olivier Longuet, a French mathematics teacher, created a game called the \textit{calissons puzzle}. Given a triangular grid in a hexagon and some given edges of the grid, the problem is to find a calisson tiling such that no input…
Bloxorz is an online puzzle game where players move a 1 by 1 by 2 block by tilting it on a subset of the two dimensional grid. Bloxorz features switches that open and close trapdoors. The puzzle is to move the block from its initial…
Consider a clique of n nodes, where in each synchronous round each pair of nodes can exchange O(log n) bits. We provide deterministic constant-time solutions for two problems in this model. The first is a routing problem where each node is…
A shuffle of two strings is formed by interleaving the characters into a new string, keeping the characters of each string in order. A string is a square if it is a shuffle of two identical strings. There is a known polynomial time dynamic…
Su-Doku, a popular combinatorial puzzle, provides an excellent testbench for heuristic explorations. Several interesting questions arise from its deceptively simple set of rules. How many distinct Su-Doku grids are there? How to find a…
Many variations of the classical graph coloring model have been intensively studied due to their multiple applications; scheduling problems and aircraft assignments, for instance, motivate the robust coloring problem. This model gets to…
Solving a Radon-Kaczmarz puzzle involves filling a square grid with positive integers, each between one and nine, satisfying certain clues coming from the sum of entries that lie on the same line in the square grid. Given a set of slopes…
We revisit a classical crossword filling puzzle which already appeared in Garey\&Jonhson's book. We are given a grid with $n$ vertical and horizontal slots and a dictionary with $m$ words and are asked to place words from the dictionary in…
We propose a novel mathematical framework to address the problem of automatically solving large jigsaw puzzles. This problem assumes a large image, which is cut into equal square pieces that are arbitrarily rotated and shuffled, and asks to…
We present and analyze PackIt!, a turn-based game consisting of packing rectangles on an $n \times n$ grid. PackIt! can be easily played on paper, either as a competitive two-player game or in \emph{solitaire} fashion. On the $t$-th turn, a…
The Calisson puzzle is a tiling puzzle in which one must tile a triangular grid inside a hexagon with lozenges, under the constraint that certain prescribed edges remain tile boundaries and that adjacent lozenges along these edges have…
Given two independent sets $I, J$ of a graph $G$, and imagine that a token (coin) is placed at each vertex of $I$. The Sliding Token problem asks if one could transform $I$ to $J$ via a sequence of elementary steps, where each step requires…
We present in this paper our solver for logic grid puzzles. The approach used by our algorithm mimics the way a human would try to solve the same problem. Every progress made during the solving process is accompanied by a detailed…
In this piece, we examine one variant of the infamous 15 Tile Puzzle and develop a mathematical backing behind why it is unsolvable. Using concepts of permutations, bijectivity, and cycle transpositions, we not only prove how to model this…
We study random packings of $2\times2$ squares with centers on the square lattice $\mathbb{Z}^{2}$, in which the probability of a packing is proportional to $\lambda$ to the number of squares. We prove that for large $\lambda$, typical…
We give a simple proof of that determining solvability of Shisen-Sho boards is NP-complete. Furthermore, we show that under realistic assumptions, one can compute in logarithmic time if two tiles form a playable pair. We combine an…
An Orthogonally resolvable Matching Design OMD$(n, k)$ is a partition of the edges the complete graph $K_n$ into matchings of size $k$, called blocks, such that the blocks can be resolved in two different ways. Such a design can be…