PERFECTLY SYMMETRIC PATTERNS
This thread is about perfectly symmetric patterns.
By this, I mean patterns of givens that enjoy a pure visual symmetry without any deviation from it.
If the givens themselves enjoy some symmetry, that's still better, but it's not a condition for being in this thread.
For systematisation purposes, perfectly symmetric patterns will be grouped into families.
Each family will have one (or a few) root pattern(s) and each of these root patterns will have variants defining the actual members of the family.
Note that neither the root pattern(s) nor the variants need have minimal puzzles:
- the root pattern(s) are there mainly for classification purposes;
- the variants are there for eventually producing actual puzzles, but it is interesting to know that some variants don't have actual puzzles or at least not easily found ones.
[Added for precision]: The root patterns must be visually identifiable shapes (henceforth as continuous as possible) - as vague as this condition may be. This may be very restrictive in comparison to the Patterns Game or the systematic studies mentioned in the references.
In the puzzles part of this forum, I've already given examples of perfectly symmetric puzzles. I'll reserve the next posts to say more about their families.
It is very likely that some perfectly symmetric puzzles have already been studied somewhere in this forum. If so, we can add references to them in this thread. [Edit]: Indeed, much has already been done: see the references.
But first, let me introduce a new ([Edit]: not so new indeed: see the references) family and take it as an example of what I'm interested in:
THE OCTAGON FAMILY
The Octagon family has one root pattern, the pure octagon pattern:
- Code: Select all
pure octagon:
+-------+-------+-------+
! . . X ! X X X ! X . . !
! . X . ! . . . ! . X . !
! X . . ! . . . ! . . X !
+-------+-------+-------+
! X . . ! . . . ! . . X !
! X . . ! . . . ! . . X !
! X . . ! . . . ! . . X !
+-------+-------+-------+
! X . . ! . . . ! . . X !
! . X . ! . . . ! . X . !
! . . X ! X X X ! X . . !
+-------+-------+-------+
--XXXXX---X-----X-X-------XX-------XX-------XX-------XX-------X-X-----X---XXXXX--
24 givens
It has all the visual/geometrical symmetries one might wish.
It has a problem however: it doesn't have puzzles - or at least none that can be produced in a reasonable amount of time. [Edit]: no puzzle confirmed in the references.
Variant 1: octagon + centre
- Code: Select all
octagon+centre:
+-------+-------+-------+
! . . X ! X X X ! X . . !
! . X . ! . . . ! . X . !
! X . . ! . . . ! . . X !
+-------+-------+-------+
! X . . ! . . . ! . . X !
! X . . ! . X . ! . . X !
! X . . ! . . . ! . . X !
+-------+-------+-------+
! X . . ! . . . ! . . X !
! . X . ! . . . ! . X . !
! . . X ! X X X ! X . . !
+-------+-------+-------+
--XXXXX---X-----X-X-------XX-------XX---X---XX-------XX-------X-X-----X---XXXXX--
25 givens
It has the same symmetries as the pure octagon and the same problem. [Edit]: no puzzle confirmed in the references.
Variant 2: open octagon obtained by deleting the 4 central X
- Code: Select all
open octagon:
+-------+-------+-------+
! . . X ! X . X ! X . . !
! . X . ! . . . ! . X . !
! X . . ! . . . ! . . X !
+-------+-------+-------+
! X . . ! . . . ! . . X !
! . . . ! . . . ! . . . !
! X . . ! . . . ! . . X !
+-------+-------+-------+
! X . . ! . . . ! . . X !
! . X . ! . . . ! . X . !
! . . X ! X . X ! X . . !
+-------+-------+-------+
--XX-XX---X-----X-X-------XX-------X---------X-------XX-------X-X-----X---XX-XX--
20 givens
It has the same symmetries as the pure octagon and the same problem. [Edit]: no puzzle confirmed in the references.
Variant 3: open octagon + centre obtained by deleting the 4 central X
- Code: Select all
open octagon + centre:
+-------+-------+-------+
! . . X ! X . X ! X . . !
! . X . ! . . . ! . X . !
! X . . ! . . . ! . . X !
+-------+-------+-------+
! X . . ! . . . ! . . X !
! . . . ! . X . ! . . . !
! X . . ! . . . ! . . X !
+-------+-------+-------+
! X . . ! . . . ! . . X !
! . X . ! . . . ! . X . !
! . . X ! X . X ! X . . !
+-------+-------+-------+
--XX-XX---X-----X-X-------XX-------X----X----X-------XX-------X-X-----X---XX-XX--
21 givens
It has the same symmetries as the pure octagon and the same problem. [Edit]: no puzzle confirmed in the references.
At this point, you may be bored by this family. Here are now more interesting variants:
Variant 4: octagon + lozenge
- Code: Select all
octagon + lozenge:
+-------+-------+-------+
! . . X ! X X X ! X . . !
! . X . ! . . . ! . X . !
! X . . ! . . . ! . . X !
+-------+-------+-------+
! X . . ! . X . ! . . X !
! X . . ! X . X ! . . X !
! X . . ! . X . ! . . X !
+-------+-------+-------+
! X . . ! . . . ! . . X !
! . X . ! . . . ! . X . !
! . . X ! X X X ! X . . !
+-------+-------+-------+
--XXXXX---X-----X-X-------XX---X---XX--X-X--XX---X---XX-------X-X-----X---XXXXX--
28 givens
This time, I could easily generate 1000 puzzles, most of which are very easy and the hardest of which has SER 8.5:
- Code: Select all
..39521...6.....5.9.......87...6...56..2.3..44...1...23.......1.8.....2...75468.. # 300 FNBTY C28.M/S8.f
Variant 5: open octagon + lozenge
- Code: Select all
open octagon + lozenge:
+-------+-------+-------+
! . . X ! X . X ! X . . !
! . X . ! . . . ! . X . !
! X . . ! . . . ! . . X !
+-------+-------+-------+
! X . . ! . X . ! . . X !
! . . . ! X . X ! . . . !
! X . . ! . X . ! . . X !
+-------+-------+-------+
! X . . ! . . . ! . . X !
! . X . ! . . . ! . X . !
! . . X ! X . X ! X . . !
+-------+-------+-------+
--XX-XX---X-----X-X-------XX---X---X---X-X---X---X---XX-------X-X-----X---XX-XX--
24 givens
Again, I could easily generate 1000 puzzles, most of which are relatively easy and the hardest two of which have SER 9.0:
- Code: Select all
..67.53...4.....6.8.......25...6...8...3.1...3...7...91.......7.3.....9...29.85.. # 95732 FNBTXYK C24.m/S8.f
..92.31...6.....4.7.......34...2...6...9.4...1...3...56.......2.1.....8...48.73.. # 95028 FNBTWYK C24.m/S8.f
Variant 6: octagon + square
- Code: Select all
octagon + square:
+-------+-------+-------+
! . . X ! X X X ! X . . !
! . X . ! . . . ! . X . !
! X . . ! . . . ! . . X !
+-------+-------+-------+
! X . . ! X . X ! . . X !
! X . . ! . . . ! . . X !
! X . . ! X . X ! . . X !
+-------+-------+-------+
! X . . ! . . . ! . . X !
! . X . ! . . . ! . X . !
! . . X ! X X X ! X . . !
+-------+-------+-------+
--XXXXX---X-----X-X-------XX--X-X--XX-------XX--X-X--XX-------X-X-----X---XXXXX--
28 givens
Again, I could easily generate 1000 puzzles, the hardest 12 of which have SER 7.2, e.g.:
- Code: Select all
..34278...4.....7.6.......37..5.9..21.......94..7.1..83.......4.6.....3...41839.. # 307 FNBTY C28.M/S8.f
Variant 7: open octagon + square
- Code: Select all
octagon + square:
+-------+-------+-------+
! . . X ! X . X ! X . . !
! . X . ! . . . ! . X . !
! X . . ! . . . ! . . X !
+-------+-------+-------+
! X . . ! X . X ! . . X !
! . . . ! . . . ! . . . !
! X . . ! X . X ! . . X !
+-------+-------+-------+
! X . . ! . . . ! . . X !
! . X . ! . . . ! . X . !
! . . X ! X . X ! X . . !
+-------+-------+-------+
--XX-XX---X-----X-X-------XX--X-X--X---------X--X-X--XX-------X-X-----X---XX-XX--
24 givens
Again, I could easily generate 1000 puzzles, the hardest of which have SER 9.0:
- Code: Select all
..37.24...7.....9.1.......87..3.4..2.........9..1.5..78.......5.2.....1...69.18.. # 2075 FNBTHXY C24.m/S8.f
TOPICS FOR THIS THREAD (non restrictive)
- Finding general families of perfectly symmetric patterns
- Finding interesting patterns in these families (interesting variants of the root pattern(s)
- Finding interesting puzzles for these variants
- [Added]: Finding references to previous work on the above three topics.
In the present context, "interesting puzzles" may mean any of the following (non restrictive):
- has some noticeable resolution path
- uses some exotic pattern for resolution (sk-loop, J-Excocet, Oddagon, ...)
- highest rating (SER or W or...) for this pattern
- has a close neighbour (Hamming distance ≤ 1 or 2) with SER ≥ 11.7 (but strictly speaking, the neighbour is not a member of the family)
- ...
[Edit]: Following some answers to this introductory post, I re-ordered the above list: in the first list, "high rating" appeared first but it is not the main point - though it remains one point of interest.
LIST OF PERFECTLY SYMMETRIC FAMILIES
This section will be updated every time a new family is introduced.
The OCTAGON family: this post
The DIAGONALS family:
The LOZENGE family:
The SLASHES family:
The WAVES family:
[Edit]: it appears that much systematic work has already been done on fully-symmetric puzzles. As explained in the "TOPICS FOR THE THREAD" section, my purpose here is different. It is also different from the Patterns Game purposes.
[Added references mentioned in subsequent posts]:
REFERENCES
On Sudoku symmetries in general: http://forum.enjoysudoku.com/sudoku-symmetry-formalized-t3667.html
A list of valid and invalid fully symmetrical patterns: http://forum.enjoysudoku.com/fully-symmetrical-invalid-patterns-t33569-53.html
http://forum.enjoysudoku.com/ask-for-patterns-that-they-dont-have-puzzles-2-t31323.html
http://forum.enjoysudoku.com/fully-symmetrical-puzzles-t3721.html#p24915
Beyond the topics of this thread, but nice patterns also: http://forum.enjoysudoku.com/sudokus-with-an-original-rare-shape-t4147.html