JavaAlgorithms/Backtracking/NQueens.java
Amit Kumar 51b226943d
Fixed: 2554: N Queens Puzzle (#2555)
Co-authored-by: Amit Kumar <akumar@indeed.com>
2021-10-14 13:59:04 +03:00

137 lines
4.5 KiB
Java

package Backtracking;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
/**
* Problem statement:
* Given a N x N chess board. Return all arrangements in which N queens can be placed on the board such no two queens attack
* each other.
* Ex. N = 6
* Solution= There are 4 possible ways
* Arrangement: 1
* ".Q....",
* "...Q..",
* ".....Q",
* "Q.....",
* "..Q...",
* "....Q."
* <p>
* Arrangement: 2
* "..Q...",
* ".....Q",
* ".Q....",
* "....Q.",
* "Q.....",
* "...Q.."
* <p>
* Arrangement: 3
* "...Q..",
* "Q.....",
* "....Q.",
* ".Q....",
* ".....Q",
* "..Q..."
* <p>
* Arrangement: 4
* "....Q.",
* "..Q...",
* "Q.....",
* ".....Q",
* "...Q..",
* ".Q...."
*
* Solution:
* Brute Force approach:
*
* Generate all possible arrangement to place N queens on N*N board.
* Check each board if queens are placed safely.
* If it is safe, include arrangement in solution set. Otherwise ignore it
*
* Optimized solution:
* This can be solved using backtracking in below steps
*
* Start with first column and place queen on first row
* Try placing queen in a row on second column
* If placing second queen in second column attacks any of the previous queens, change the row in second column
* otherwise move to next column and try to place next queen
* In case if there is no rows where a queen can be placed such that it doesn't attack previous queens, then go back to previous column and change row of previous queen.
* Keep doing this until last queen is not placed safely.
* If there is no such way then return an empty list as solution
*/
public class NQueens {
public static void main(String[] args) {
placeQueens(1);
placeQueens(2);
placeQueens(3);
placeQueens(4);
placeQueens(5);
placeQueens(6);
}
public static void placeQueens(final int queens) {
List<List<String>> arrangements = new ArrayList<List<String>>();
getSolution(queens, arrangements, new int[queens], 0);
if (arrangements.isEmpty()) {
System.out.println("There is no way to place " + queens + " queens on board of size " + queens + "x" + queens);
} else {
System.out.println("Arrangement for placing " + queens + " queens");
}
arrangements.forEach(arrangement -> {
arrangement.forEach(row -> System.out.println(row));
System.out.println();
});
}
/**
* This is backtracking function which tries to place queen recursively
* @param boardSize: size of chess board
* @param solutions: this holds all possible arrangements
* @param columns: columns[i] = rowId where queen is placed in ith column.
* @param columnIndex: This is the column in which queen is being placed
*/
private static void getSolution(int boardSize, List<List<String>> solutions, int[] columns, int columnIndex) {
if (columnIndex == boardSize) {
// this means that all queens have been placed
List<String> sol = new ArrayList<String>();
for (int i = 0; i < boardSize; i++) {
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
for (int j = 0; j < boardSize; j++) {
sb.append(j == columns[i] ? "Q" : ".");
}
sol.add(sb.toString());
}
solutions.add(sol);
return;
}
// This loop tries to place queen in a row one by one
for (int rowIndex = 0; rowIndex < boardSize; rowIndex++) {
columns[columnIndex] = rowIndex;
if (isPlacedCorrectly(columns, rowIndex, columnIndex)) {
// If queen is placed successfully at rowIndex in column=columnIndex then try placing queen in next column
getSolution(boardSize, solutions, columns, columnIndex + 1);
}
}
}
/**
* This function checks if queen can be placed at row = rowIndex in column = columnIndex safely
* @param columns: columns[i] = rowId where queen is placed in ith column.
* @param rowIndex: row in which queen has to be placed
* @param columnIndex: column in which queen is being placed
* @return true: if queen can be placed safely
* false: otherwise
*/
private static boolean isPlacedCorrectly(int[] columns, int rowIndex, int columnIndex) {
for (int i = 0; i < columnIndex; i++) {
int diff = Math.abs(columns[i] - rowIndex);
if (diff == 0 || columnIndex - i == diff) {
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
}