Related papers: A solution to the 7-prince's tour problem

We investigate a variety of problems of finding tours and cycle covers with minimum turn cost. Questions of this type have been studied in the past, with complexity and approximation results as well as open problems dating back to work by…

In this paper we define and study the billiard problem on bounded regions on surfaces of constant curvature. We show that this problem defines a 2-dimensional conservative and reversible dynamical system, defined by a Twist diffeomorphism,…

We generalize Rock Paper Scissors to complete directed graphs, or tournaments, on $n$ vertices. Properties of the mixed-strategy Nash equilibria of these tournaments are discussed, particularly those with Nash equilibria where all of the…

This paper considers the effect of riffle shuffling on decks of cards, allowing for some cards to be indistinguishable from other cards. The dual problem of dealing a game with hands, such as bridge or poker, is also considered. The…

Given a graph G and an integer k, the objective of the $\Pi$-Contraction problem is to check whether there exists at most k edges in G such that contracting them in G results in a graph satisfying the property $\Pi$. We investigate the…

This paper presents a solution to the Knights and Spies Problem: In a room there are n people, each labelled with a unique number between 1 and n. A person may either be a knight or a spy. Knights always tell the truth, while spies may…

A vertex $x$ in a tournament $T$ is called a king if for every vertex $y$ of $T$ there is a directed path from $x$ to $y$ of length at most 2. It is not hard to show that every vertex of maximum out-degree in a tournament is a king.…

Break a stick at random at $n-1$ points to obtain $n$ pieces. We give an explicit formula for the probability that every choice of $k$ segments from this broken stick can form a $k$-gon, generalizing similar work. The method we use can be…

In this paper we study the number $M_{m,n}$ of ways to place nonattacking pawns on an $m\times n$ chessboard. We find an upper bound for $M_{m,n}$ and analyse its asymptotic behavior. It turns out that $\lim_{m,n\to\infty}(M_{m,n})^{1/mn}$…

In this paper, we bring a complete solution to the Ovals problem, as formulated in [3] and [24].

We revisit the game in which each of several players chooses a pattern and then a coin is flipped repeatedly until one of these patterns is generated. In particular, we demonstrate how to compute the probability of any one player winning…

A classical open problem in combinatorial geometry is to obtain tight asymptotic bounds on the maximum number of k-level vertices in an arrangement of n hyperplanes in d dimensions (vertices with exactly k of the hyperplanes passing below…

In a classical chess round-robin tournament, each of $n$ players wins, draws, or loses a game against each of the other $n-1$ players. A win rewards a player with 1 points, a draw with 1/2 point, and a loss with 0 points. We are interested…

In the paper the foundation of the $k$-orbit theory is developed. The theory opens a new simple way to the investigation of groups and multidimensional symmetries. The relations between combinatorial symmetry properties of a $k$-orbit and…

We examine the possible trajectories of a classical particle, trapped in a two-dimensional infinite rectangular well, using the Hamilton-Jacobi equation. We observe that three types of trajectories are possible: periodic orbits, open orbits…

A permutation $\sigma=[\sigma_1,\dots,\sigma_n] \in S_n$ is called a {\em cylindrical king permutation} if $ |\sigma_{i+1}-\sigma_{i}|>1$ for each $1\leq i \leq n-1$ and $|\sigma_1-\sigma_n|>1$. The name comes from the the way one can see…

From the 1970s up to now, Mastermind, a classic two-player game, has attracted plenty of attention, not only from the public as a popular game, but also from the academic community as a scientific issue. Mastermind with n positions and k…

For any odd integer $n\geq3$ a board (of size $n$) is a square array of $n\times n$ positions with a simple rule of how to move between positions. The goal of the game we introduce is to find a path from the upper left corner of a board to…

In this paper we are going to solve an open problem about the game tetris. We are going to give the first results in the complexity of a variant of offline tetris introduced by Erik Demaine, Susan Hohenberger and David Liben Nowell in their…

The tableau reconstruction problem, posed by Monks (2009), asks the following. Starting with a standard Young tableau $T$, a 1-minor of $T$ is a tableau obtained by first deleting any cell of $T$, and then performing jeu de taquin slides to…