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- introduction
- 4X3.TOU
- 4X3.ASM
- 4X3.COM
- 4X5.TOU
- 4X5.ASM
- 4X5.COM
- 4X6.TOU
- 4X6.ASM
- 4X6.COM
- 4X7.TOU
- 4X7.ASM
- 4X7.COM
- 4X8.TOU
- 4X8.ASM - won't fit
- 4X8.COM
- 4GRID
- :Introduction.
-
- We have a collection of knight's tours for a 4xN strip, with N running
- between 3 and 8. According to Kraitchik, the key to understanding the 4xN strip
- is to group the squares into four classes - outer red, outer black, inner red,
- and inner black. A knight ALWAYS alternates between red and black squares. For
- the 4xN strip, marked as shown,
-
- +-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
- | A | B | A | B | A | B | A | B |
- +-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
- | a | b | a | b | a | b | a | b |
- +-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
- | b | a | b | a | b | a | b | a |
- +-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
- | B | A | B | A | B | A | B | A |
- +-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
-
- a more specialized transition diagram holds:
-
- A <---> a <---> b <---> B
-
- -
- The rule is that ALL the A's must be visited before ANY B's (or conversely).
- Moreover, only A's and B's can be terminal points, otherwise the gap between
- a's and b's could never be bridged.
-
- Since there are equal numbers of A's, a's, B's and b's, any premature jumps
- between a's and b's will use up one of the a's that has to be paired with
- an A.
-
- Kraitchik also reports a symmetry, beyond the obvious rotational
- and reflective symmetry of a rectangle - small and capital letters may be
- interchanged. That is, the top two rows may be exchanged, simultaneously
- the bottom two rows, and you will get another tour.
-
- The number of tours for various cases should be:
-
- N = 3 4 5 6 7 8
- tours = 8 0 82 744 6378 31088
-
- :: (TOUR)4X3.TOU
- :: (TOUR)4X3.AQM
- :: P=(TOUR)4X3.COM (TOUR)NULL.HLP
- :: (TOUR)4X5.TOU
- :: (TOUR)4X5.AQM
- :: P=(TOUR)4X5.COM (TOUR)NULL.HLP
- :: (TOUR)4X6.TOU
- :: (TOUR)4X6.AQM
- :: P=(TOUR)4X6.COM (TOUR)NULL.HLP
- :: (TOUR)4X7.TOU
- :: (TOUR)4X7.AQM
- :: P=(TOUR)4X7.COM (TOUR)NULL.HLP
- :: (TOUR)4X8.TOU
- : (TOUR)4X8.AQM - too big to fit in memory
- :: P=(TOUR)4X8.COM (TOUR)NULL.HLP
- :: (TOUR)4GRID.HQP
- :[end]
- [Harold V. McIntosh, 15 July 1985]