8 Queens Problem

Introduction
The eight queens puzzle is the problem of placing eight chess queens on an 88 chessboard so that no two queens attack each other. Thus, a solution requires that no two queens share the same row, column, or diagonal. The eight queens puzzle is an example of the more general n-queens problem of placing n queens on an nn chessboard, where solutions exist for all natural numbers n with the exception of 2 and 3.

History
The puzzle was originally proposed in 1848 by the chess player Max Bezzel, and over the years, many mathematicians, including Gauss, have worked on this puzzle and its generalized n-queens problem. The first solutions were provided by Franz Nauck in 1850. Nauck also extended the puzzle to n-queens problem (on an nn boarda chessboard of arbitrary size). In 1874, S. Gnther proposed a method of finding solutions by using determinants, and J.W.L. Glaisher refined this approach. Edsger Dijkstra used this problem in 1972 to illustrate the power of what he called structured programming. He published a highly detailed description of the development of a depth-first backtracking algorithm.

Solution construction
The problem can be quite computationally expensive as there are 4,426,165,368 (i.e., 64 choose 8) possible arrangements of eight queens on a 88 board, but only 92 solutions. It is possible to use shortcuts that reduce computational requirements or rules of thumb that avoids brute-force computational techniques. For example, just by applying a simple rule that constrains each queen to a single column (or row), though still considered brute force, it is possible to reduce the number of possibilities to just 16,777,216 (that is, 88) possible combinations. Generating the permutations that are solutions of the eight rooks puzzle and then checking for diagonal attacks further reduces the possibilities to just 40,320 (that is, This heuristic solves N queens for any N 4. It forms the list of numbers for vertical positions (rows) of queens with horizontal position (column) simply increasing. N is 8 for eight queens puzzle. 1. If the remainder from dividing N by 6 is not 2 or 3 then the list is simply all even numbers followed by all odd numbers N

2. Otherwise, write separate lists of even and odd numbers (i.e. 2,4,6,8 1,3,5,7) 3. If the remainder is 2, swap 1 and 3 in odd list and move 5 to the end (i.e. 3,1,7,5) 4. If the remainder is 3, move 2 to the end of even list and 1,3 to the end of odd list (i.e. 4,6,8,2 - 5,7,9,1,3) 5. Append odd list to the even list and place queens in the rows given by these numbers, from left to right (i.e. a2, b4, c6, d8, e3, f1, g7, h5) For N = 8 this results in the solution shown above. A few more examples follow.

14 queens (remainder 2): 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 3, 1, 7, 9, 11, 13, 5. 15 queens (remainder 3): 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 2, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 1, 3. 20 queens (remainder 2): 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 3, 1, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 5.

Solutions
The eight queens puzzle has 92 distinct solutions. If solutions that differ only by symmetry operations (rotations and reflections) of the board are counted as one, the puzzle has 12 unique (or fundamental) solutions. A fundamental solution usually has eight variants (including its original form) obtained by rotating 90, 180, or 270 degrees and then reflecting each of the four rotational variants in a mirror in a fixed position. However, should a solution be equivalent to its own 90 degree rotation (as happens to one solution with five queens on a 5x5 board) that fundamental solution will have only two variants (itself and its reflection). Should a solution be equivalent to its own 180 degree rotation (but not to its 90 degree rotation) it will have four variants (itself, its reflection, its 90 degree rotation and the reflection of that). It is not possible for a solution to be equivalent to its own reflection (except at n=1) because that would require two queens to be facing each other. Of the 12 fundamental solutions to the problem with eight queens on an 8x8 board, exactly one is equal to its own 180 degree rotation, and none are equal to their 90 degree rotation, thus the number of distinct solutions is 11*8 + 1*4 = 92 (where the 8 is derived from four 90-degree rotational positions and their reflections, and the 4 is derived from two 180-degree rotational positions and their reflections).

Explicit solutions
Explicit solutions exist for placing n queens on an n n board, requiring no combinatorial search whatsoever. The explicit solutions exhibit stair-stepped patterns.

The unique solutions: