eight queens puzzle
eight queens puzzle
(algorithm)It is a common students assignment to devise a program tosolve the eight queens puzzle. The brute force algorithmtries all 64*63*62*61*60*59*58*57 = 178,462,987,637,760possible layouts of eight pieces on a chessboard to see whichones meet the criterion. More intelligent algorithms use thefact that there are only ten positions for the first queenthat are not reflections of each other, and that the firstqueen leaves at most 42 safe squares, giving only10*42*41*40*39*38*37*36 = 1,359,707,731,200 layouts to try,and so on.
The puzzle may be varied with different number of pieces anddifferent size boards.