Related papers: The $n$-queens completion problem

A positive definite completion problem pertains to determining whether the unspecified positions of a partial (or incomplete) matrix can be completed in a desired subclass of positive definite matrices. In this paper we study an important…

The 15 puzzle is a classic reconfiguration puzzle with fifteen uniquely labeled unit squares within a $4 \times 4$ board in which the goal is to slide the squares (without ever overlapping) into a target configuration. By generalizing the…

We consider the problem of exact low-rank matrix completion from a geometric viewpoint: given a partially filled matrix M, we keep the positions of specified and unspecified entries fixed, and study how the minimal completion rank depends…

We consider the minimal number of points on a regular grid on the plane that generates $n$ line segments of points of exactly length $k$. We illustrate how this is related to the $n$-queens problem on the toroidal chessboard and show that…

{\em Partial domination problem} is a generalization of the {\em minimum dominating set problem} on graphs. Here, instead of dominating all the nodes, one asks to dominate at least a fraction of the nodes of the given graph by choosing a…

This paper is concerned with a covering problem of Euclidean space by a particular arrangement of cones that are not necessarily full and are allowed to overlap. The problem provides an equivalent geometric reformulation of the solvability…

In the well-studied Stable Roommates problem, we seek a stable matching of agents into pairs, where no two agents prefer each other over their assigned partners. However, some instances of this problem are unsolvable, lacking any stable…

Quint and Shubik (1997) conjectured that a non-degenerate n-by-n game has at most 2^n-1 Nash equilibria in mixed strategies. The conjecture is true for n at most 4 but false for n=6 or larger. We answer it positively for the remaining case…

There exist a finite number of natural numbers n for which we do not know whether a realizable n_4-configuration does exist. We settle the two smallest unknown cases n=15 and n=16. In these cases realizable n_4-configurations cannot exist…

We study a new reconfiguration problem inspired by classic mechanical puzzles: a colored token is placed on each vertex of a given graph; we are also given a set of distinguished cycles on the graph. We are tasked with rearranging the…

Given a partial Steiner triple system (STS) of order $n$, what is the order of the smallest complete STS it can be embedded into? The study of this question goes back more than 40 years. In this paper we answer it for relatively sparse…

For positive integers $n$ and $k$ with $n \geq k$, an $(n,k,1)$-design is a pair $(V, \mathcal{B})$ where $V$ is a set of $n$ points and $\mathcal{B}$ is a collection of $k$-subsets of $V$ called blocks such that each pair of points occur…

The Seat Arrangement Problem is a problem of finding a desirable seat arrangement for given preferences of agents and a seat graph that represents a configuration of seats. In this paper, we consider decision problems of determining if an…

We consider the chessboard pebbling problem analyzed by Chung, Graham, Morrison and Odlyzko [3]. We study the number of reachable configurations $G(k)$ and a related double sequence $G(k,m)$. Exact expressions for these are derived, and we…

Nested Steiner quadruple systems are designs derived from Steiner quadruple systems (SQSs) by partitioning each block into pairs. A nested SQS is completely uniform if every possible pair appears with equal multiplicity, and completely…

We extend the study of the 2-Solo Chess problem which was first introduced by Aravind, Misra, and Mittal in 2022. 2-Solo Chess is a single-player variant of chess in which the player must clear the board via captures such that only one…

In this paper, we propose two new methods for solving Set Constraint Problems, as well as a potential polynomial solution for NP-Complete problems using quantum computation. While current methods of solving Set Constraint Problems focus on…

A classical problem, due to Gerencs\'er and Gy\'arf\'as from 1967, asks how large a monochromatic connected component can we guarantee in any $r$-edge colouring of $K_n$? We consider how big a connected component can we guarantee in any…

Let $k$ be an integer with $k\geq 2$. A $k$-king in a digraph $D$ is a vertex which can reach every other vertex by a directed path of length at most $k$ and a non-king is a vertex which is not a 3-king. A subset $K$ is $k$-independent if…

We prove that a variant of 2048, a popular online puzzle game, is PSPACE-Complete. Our hardness result holds for a version of the problem where the player has oracle access to the computer player's moves. Specifically, we show that for an…