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The classic textbook example of the use of backtracking is the eight queens puzzle, that asks for all arrangements of eight chess queens on a standard chessboard so that no queen attacks any other. In the common backtracking approach, the partial candidates are arrangements of k queens in the first k rows of the board, all in different rows and ...
Some of the better-known exact cover problems include tiling, the n queens problem, and Sudoku. The name dancing links , which was suggested by Donald Knuth , stems from the way the algorithm works, as iterations of the algorithm cause the links to "dance" with partner links so as to resemble an "exquisitely choreographed dance."
The eight queens puzzle is the problem of placing eight chess queens on an 8×8 chessboard so that no two queens threaten each other; thus, a solution requires that no two queens share the same row, column, or diagonal. There are 92 solutions.
Algorithm X is an algorithm for solving the exact cover problem. It is a straightforward recursive, nondeterministic, depth-first, backtracking algorithm used by Donald Knuth to demonstrate an efficient implementation called DLX, which uses the dancing links technique. [1] [2]
Min-Conflicts solves the N-Queens Problem by selecting a column from the chess board for queen reassignment. The algorithm searches each potential move for the number of conflicts (number of attacking queens), shown in each square. The algorithm moves the queen to the square with the minimum number of conflicts, breaking ties randomly.
One way to speed up a brute-force algorithm is to reduce the search space, that is, the set of candidate solutions, by using heuristics specific to the problem class. For example, in the eight queens problem the challenge is to place eight queens on a standard chessboard so that no queen attacks any other.
Some hobbyists have developed computer programs that will solve Sudoku puzzles using a backtracking algorithm, which is a type of brute force search. [3] Backtracking is a depth-first search (in contrast to a breadth-first search), because it will completely explore one branch to a possible solution before moving to another branch.
A dominating set of the queen's graph corresponds to a placement of queens such that every square on the chessboard is either attacked or occupied by a queen. On an 8 × 8 {\displaystyle 8\times 8} chessboard, five queens can dominate, and this is the minimum number possible [ 4 ] : 113–114 (four queens leave at least two squares unattacked).