Backtracking - Set 1 (The Knight's Tour Problem) - GeeksforGeeks

6/4/2016 Backtracking
| Set 1 (The Knight's tour problem) GeeksforGeeks
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Backtracking | Set 1 (The Knight’s tour problem)
Backtracking is an algorithmic paradigm that tries different solutions until finds a solution that “works”.
Problems which are typically solved using backtracking technique have following property in common.
These problems can only be solved by trying every possible configuration and each configuration is tried
only once. A Naive solution for these problems is to try all configurations and output a configuration that
follows given problem constraints. Backtracking works in incremental way and is an optimization over the
Naive solution where all possible configurations are generated and tried.
For example, consider the following Knight’s Tour problem.
The knight is placed on the first block of an empty board and, moving according to the rules of chess, must
visit each square exactly once.
Let us first discuss the Naive algorithm for this problem and then the Backtracking algorithm.
Naive Algorithm for Knight’s tour
The Naive Algorithm is to generate all tours one by one and check if the generated tour satisfies the
constraints.
while there are untried tours
{
generate the next tour
if this tour covers all squares
{
print this path;
}
}
Backtracking works in an incremental way to attack problems. Typically, we start from an empty solution

vector and one by one add items (Meaning of item varies from problem to problem. In context of Knight’s
tour problem, an item is a Knight’s move). When we add an item, we check if adding the current item
violates the problem constraint, if it does then we remove the item and try other alternatives. If none of the
alternatives work out then we go to previous stage and remove the item added in the previous stage. If we
reach the initial stage back then we say that no solution exists. If adding an item doesn’t violate constraints
then we recursively add items one by one. If the solution vector becomes complete then we print the
solution.
http://www.geeksforgeeks.org/backtrackingset1theknightstourproblem/ 1/15
6/4/2016 Backtracking | Set 1 (The Knight's tour problem) GeeksforGeeks
Backtracking Algorithm for Knight’s tour
Following is the Backtracking algorithm for Knight’s tour problem.
If all squares are visited
print the solution
Else
a) Add one of the next moves to solution vector and recursively
check if this move leads to a solution. (A Knight can make maximum
eight moves. We choose one of the 8 moves in this step).
b) If the move chosen in the above step doesn't lead to a solution
then remove this move from the solution vector and try other
alternative moves.
c) If none of the alternatives work then return false (Returning false
will remove the previously added item in recursion and if false is
returned by the initial call of recursion then "no solution exists" )
Following are implementations for Knight’s tour problem. It prints one of the possible solutions in 2D matrix
form. Basically, the output is a 2D 8*8 matrix with numbers from 0 to 63 and these numbers show steps
made by Knight.
C
// C program for Knight Tour problem
#include<stdio.h>
#define N 8

int solveKTUtil(int x, int y, int movei, int sol[N][N],
int xMove[], int yMove[]);

/* A utility function to check if i,j are valid indexes
for N*N chessboard */
bool isSafe(int x, int y, int sol[N][N])
{
return ( x >= 0 && x < N && y >= 0 &&
y < N && sol[x][y] == ‐1);
}

/* A utility function to print solution matrix sol[N][N] */
void printSolution(int sol[N][N])
{
for (int x = 0; x < N; x++)
{
for (int y = 0; y < N; y++)
printf(" %2d ", sol[x][y]);
printf("\n");
}
}

/* This function solves the Knight Tour problem using
Backtracking. This function mainly uses solveKTUtil()
to solve the problem. It returns false if no complete
tour is possible, otherwise return true and prints the
tour.
Please note that there may be more than one solutions,
this function prints one of the feasible solutions. */
bool solveKT()
{
int sol[N][N];

/* Initialization of solution matrix */
for (int x = 0; x < N; x++)
for (int x = 0; x < N; x++)
for (int y = 0; y < N; y++)
sol[x][y] = ‐1;

/* xMove[] and yMove[] define next move of Knight.
xMove[] is for next value of x coordinate
yMove[] is for next value of y coordinate */
int xMove[8] = { 2, 1, ‐1, ‐2, ‐2, ‐1, 1, 2 };
int yMove[8] = { 1, 2, 2, 1, ‐1, ‐2, ‐2, ‐1 };

// Since the Knight is initially at the first block
sol[0][0] = 0;

/* Start from 0,0 and explore all tours using
solveKTUtil() */
if (solveKTUtil(0, 0, 1, sol, xMove, yMove) == false)
{
printf("Solution does not exist");
return false;
}
else
printSolution(sol);

return true;
}

/* A recursive utility function to solve Knight Tour
problem */
int solveKTUtil(int x, int y, int movei, int sol[N][N],
int xMove[N], int yMove[N])
{
int k, next_x, next_y;
if (movei == N*N)
return true;

/* Try all next moves from the current coordinate x, y */
for (k = 0; k < 8; k++)
{
next_x = x + xMove[k];
next_y = y + yMove[k];
if (isSafe(next_x, next_y, sol))
{
sol[next_x][next_y] = movei;
if (solveKTUtil(next_x, next_y, movei+1, sol,
xMove, yMove) == true)
return true;
else
sol[next_x][next_y] = ‐1;// backtracking
}
}

return false;
}

/* Driver program to test above functions */
int main()
{
solveKT();
return 0;
}
Run on IDE
Java
// Java program for Knight Tour problem
class KnightTour {
static int N = 8;
static int N = 8;

/* A utility function to check if i,j are
valid indexes for N*N chessboard */
static boolean isSafe(int x, int y, int sol[][]) {
return (x >= 0 && x < N && y >= 0 &&
y < N && sol[x][y] == ‐1);
}

/* A utility function to print solution
matrix sol[N][N] */
static void printSolution(int sol[][]) {
for (int x = 0; x < N; x++) {
for (int y = 0; y < N; y++)
System.out.print(sol[x][y] + " ");
System.out.println();
}
}

/* This function solves the Knight Tour problem
using Backtracking. This function mainly
uses solveKTUtil() to solve the problem. It
returns false if no complete tour is possible,
otherwise return true and prints the tour.
Please note that there may be more than one
solutions, this function prints one of the
feasible solutions. */
static boolean solveKT() {
int sol[][] = new int[8][8];

/* Initialization of solution matrix */
for (int x = 0; x < N; x++)
for (int y = 0; y < N; y++)
sol[x][y] = ‐1;

/* xMove[] and yMove[] define next move of Knight.
xMove[] is for next value of x coordinate
yMove[] is for next value of y coordinate */
int xMove[] = {2, 1, ‐1, ‐2, ‐2, ‐1, 1, 2};
int yMove[] = {1, 2, 2, 1, ‐1, ‐2, ‐2, ‐1};

// Since the Knight is initially at the first block
sol[0][0] = 0;

/* Start from 0,0 and explore all tours using
solveKTUtil() */
if (!solveKTUtil(0, 0, 1, sol, xMove, yMove)) {
System.out.println("Solution does not exist");
return false;
} else
printSolution(sol);

return true;
}

/* A recursive utility function to solve Knight
Tour problem */
static boolean solveKTUtil(int x, int y, int movei,
int sol[][], int xMove[],
int yMove[]) {
int k, next_x, next_y;
if (movei == N * N)
return true;

/* Try all next moves from the current coordinate
x, y */
for (k = 0; k < 8; k++) {
next_x = x + xMove[k];
next_y = y + yMove[k];
if (isSafe(next_x, next_y, sol)) {
if (solveKTUtil(next_x, next_y, movei + 1,
sol, xMove, yMove))
return true;
else
sol[next_x][next_y] = ‐1;// backtracking
}
}

return false;
}

/* Driver program to test above functions */
public static void main(String args[]) {
solveKT();
}
}
// This code is contributed by Abhishek Shankhadhar
Run on IDE
Output:
0 59 38 33 30 17 8 63
37 34 31 60 9 62 29 16
58 1 36 39 32 27 18 7
35 48 41 26 61 10 15 28
42 57 2 49 40 23 6 19
47 50 45 54 25 20 11 14
56 43 52 3 22 13 24 5
51 46 55 44 53 4 21 12
Note that Backtracking is not the best solution for the Knight’s tour problem. See this for other better
solutions. The purpose of this post is to explain Backtracking with an example.
References:
http://see.stanford.edu/materials/icspacs106b/H19RecBacktrackExamples.pdf
http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~matuszek/cit5942009/Lectures/35backtracking.ppt
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/KnightsTour.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight%27s_tour
Please write comments if you find anything incorrect, or you want to share more information about the topic
discussed above.
88 Comments Category: Backtracking Tags: Backtracking
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Join the discussion…
karan • 14 days ago
#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
int row,col,x,y,tr,tc,counter=1,lowest=100,i,j;
int cb[8][8]={0};
int horizontal[8]={1,1,1,1,2,2,2,2};
int vertical[8]={2,2,2,2,1,1,1,1};
int ah[8][8]={2,3,4,4,4,4,3,2, //accessibility hueristic
3,4,6,6,6,6,4,3,
4,6,8,8,8,8,6,4,
4,6,8,8,8,8,6,4,
4,6,8,8,8,8,6,4,
4,6,8,8,8,8,6,4,
3,4,6,6,6,6,4,3,
2,3,4,4,4,4,3,2};
printf("enter initial position\nrow : ");
scanf("%1d",&row);
see more
△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›
Nick Frazier • 25 days ago
Why are xMove and yMove passed down recursively as arguments? Aren't they
Why are xMove and yMove passed down recursively as arguments? Aren't they
constants, and if so couldn't they just be referenced globally (like N)?
Shiva Kumar • 2 months ago
In C++:
http://code.geeksforgeeks.org/...
Raj • 3 months ago
We need to ensure that xMove and yMove coordinates form an anticlockwise circle
starting from bottom right. Else, the problem seems like a never ending solution.
The reason above works, successors are spread far across and the number of
conflicts are also reduced.
In other words, if you change your corner from 0,0 to any other corners, it is advisable
to change your xMove and yMove arrays to represent new circle resulting in fewer
collisions.
1 △ ▽ • Reply • Share ›
P V Sai Krishna > Raj • 3 months ago
Hi Raj,
I experienced the same what you told about never ending solution.
But according to logic it should not be a never ending solution.
Can you tell me why it is going as a infinite loop?
icemann • 4 months ago
I started the traversal from position 5,5. I didn't change anything else. Program looks
like never ending. Is there any logic to create different move sequence for different
starting positions?
Got results after one and a half days.
bash4.1$ cc std=c99 myKT.c
bash4.1$ ./a.out
56 25 44 39 20 5 60 63
45 38 57 22 59 62 19 4
26 55 24 43 40 21 6 61
37 46 41 58 23 8 3 18
54 27 36 47 42 17 12 7
35 32 51 28 15 0 9 2
50 53 30 33 48 11 16 13
31 34 49 52 29 14 1 10
AllergicToBitches > icemann • 3 months ago
I think its always better to start from any corner of matrix. If you start from
somewhere middle, knight can go to 8 different directions. If we start from
corner, the knight can go to only two points from there. Since the algorithm is
exponential, optimized input to it can make huge difference.
abhishek • 6 months ago
similar solution for
http://algorithms.tutorialhori...
http://ideone.com/Ur46R
sai • 9 months ago
can some one explain why we have not decremented movei when we backtrack
the_killer > sai • 9 months ago
movi will automatically get decremented when all the calls of for loop fail and
stack would unwind to previous movi value not just movi but nextx,nexty and
rest stack arguments also (i.e. we are discarding our move by doing sol[next_x]
[next_y] = 1)
rishabh goel • 10 months ago
Same code is not working when i change xMove to {1,2,1,1,1,2,2,2} and yMove to
{2,1,2,2,2,1,1,1}
The moves are same , i have just changed the indices !
Rajan Parmar > rishabh goel • 5 months ago
as you said to "Sheena" below : the configuration in solution is clearly circular
and hence faster, your configuration is quite abrupt and so should take more
time. By circular I mean if you plot the 1st vector, the 2nd vector will be in
clockwise or anticlockwise direction and so will be the 3rd, 4th, 5th so on..
user2345 > rishabh goel • 6 months ago
yes ! I have tested what you said. it is really amazing!! why does it happen?
Joy • a year ago
Above code has small compilation bug for older C compilers. 'for' loop initial
declarations are only allowed in C99 mode. for (int x = 0; x < N; x++).
codelearner • a year ago
can anyone expalin the xmove and ymove arrays .. why and how they have bee used?
Nexus > codelearner • a year ago
It contains possible moves of Knight’s from its position.
Please read :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Sheena Chhabra • a year ago
int x_move[8]={1,1,2,2,1,1,2,2};
int y_move[8]={2,2,1,1,2,2,1,1};
when i am using these array. it is running infinite loop ...can anyone explain??
Rajan Parmar > Sheena Chhabra • 5 months ago
It is because the order used in above mentioned solution is optimum . It get the
vacant position in one or two moves. But in your case knight is backtracking a
lot . Imagine what if your order explore all possible moves i.e 64C8 (no. of ways
8 position can be selected from 64 available position) = 4426165368 ( around
4*10^9) it will take a huge amount of tie more than 5 seconds to explore the all
position. Hence this order taking so much time .
rishabh goel > Sheena Chhabra • 10 months ago
the configuration in solution is clearly circular and hence faster, your
configuration is quite abrupt and so should take more time. By circular I mean if
you plot the 1st vector, the 2nd vector will be in clockwise or anticlockwise
direction and so will be the 3rd, 4th, 5th so on..
sahil • a year ago
can you help me to analyize the time complexity of this backtrack solutin???
HuntXT > sahil • a year ago
You can analyse like this:
For each cell we have 8 possibilities,
and this is for each and every cell,
so total cells = (n*n) 1 [removing the last one]
=n^21
So, total complexity = O(8^(no of cells))
So, total complexity = O(8^(no of cells))
= O(8^(n^21))
Himanshu Nandeshwar > HuntXT • a year ago
I understood your approach but can you please explain why (8^(n^21)
and not 8*(n^21) ? i.e why haven't you multiplied 8 ?
HuntXT > Himanshu Nandeshwar • a year ago
That's simple.
See, for first cell 8 ; second 8 , and so on...
Now, 8 for first AND 8 for second AND 8 for third , and so on....
Also, for each AND we use * not + , if it had been OR then we
would have used +.
=> 8*8*8....
=>8^(n^21).
Also, more precisely, 8 combinations of first with 8 combinations
of second , 8 combinations of third and so on..., hence 8^(*)
Like, for example what's the total no. of color combination we
can have if we have 8 colors and 2 persons can choose any
color.
=> first person 8, second person 8
=> total 8*8,
not 8+8.
Himanshu Nandeshwar > HuntXT • a year ago
Thankyou very much now everything is clear :)
Jeff • a year ago
For these move array, the program is not terminating
int x_arr[8] = {1, 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 2, 2};
int y_arr[8] = {2, 2, 1, 1, 2, 2, 1, 1};
http://ideone.com/IfSAm1
Anyone know the problem?
Rajan Parmar > Jeff • 5 months ago
It is because the order used in mentioned solution is optimum . It get the vacant
position in one or two moves. But in your case knight is backtracking a lot .
Imagine what if your order explore all possible moves i.e 64C8 (no. of ways 8
position can be selected from 64 available position) = 4426165368 ( around
position. Hence this order taking so much time.
Jeff > Jeff • a year ago
It Seems the first entry must be (2,1), otherwise the program won't work!!!!
radek • a year ago
in the issafe function is there a need to specify "x>0 && y>0 " since we are not
decreasing the values of x and y as such ?
Ashwani Kumar > radek • a year ago
the possible moves may take our knight out of board if we do not check for > 0
conditions just as we check for < N condtion
Paritosh Agrawal • a year ago
NOT WORKING!!
above solution is not working if i start from (0,4) instead of (0,0)
but there exist a solution for (0,4)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K...
plz someone give the solution which works on all the cases
Vikram Ojha • a year ago
man wat r dese magic numbers
int xMove[8] = { 2, 1, 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 2 };
int yMove[8] = { 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 2, 2, 1 };
Renée > Vikram Ojha • a year ago
Those are the 8 moves a Knight can make.
Consider negative xMove: move up; positive xMove: move down.
Also, consider negative yMove: move to the left; positive yMove: move to the
right.
A chess board has numbers and letters on its sides, but a matrix has only
numbers, so you calculate the coordinates to move up and down and
sideways.
2 down, 1 right
1 down, 2 right
1 up, 2 right
...
Did you get it?
Devanshu Garg > Renée • 3 months ago
srry but i didn't get it ?????
Vikram Ojha > Renée • a year ago
Ya Reene on very dat day I had seen ur previous comment and dat was
realy helpful...bt still thanx for replying
Tejwinder • a year ago
Do you know it makes a "Tessellation" while traversal
http://www.borderschess.org/KT...
Avishek Sachan • 2 years ago
// NON RECURSIVE APPROACH and Modified solveKTUtil function
#include <stack>
#include <stdio.h>
using namespace std;
#define N 8
typedef struct Point
int x;
int y;
} SChessXY;
int solveKTUtil(int x, int y, int movei, int sol[N][N], int xMove[],
see more
Coding Enthusiast > Avishek Sachan • a year ago
The nonrecursive version does not work. It gives wrong solution where 61 and
62 are far apart. I think the stack needs more information to be pushed in.
Aveek Biswas • 2 years ago
The program is failing if instead of
[ int xMove[8] = { 2, 1, 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 2 };
[ int xMove[8] = { 2, 1, 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 2 };
int yMove[8] = { 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 2, 2, 1 }; ],
[ int xMove[8] = { 1, 2, 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 2 };
int yMove[8] = { 2, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, 2, 1 }; ] is used.
The corresponding moves in x and y direction is maintained but the order is different int
the 2nd matrix. But it fails. This means the solution also depends on these two matrices
also. Could anybody plz explain the reason for this?
anirudh goel > Aveek Biswas • a year ago
i dont whether its useful now or not.. but same thing happened to me.. and it so
happens that first values of xmove and ymove should be 2 and 1 resp. and
other values can reordered. then it works fine. i dont know reason for that..
maybe its taking too much time with other starting value? just a guess.
Avishek Sachan > Aveek Biswas • 2 years ago
I pasted the non recursive solution, it works even you change the sequence of
directions
dustbite > Aveek Biswas • 2 years ago
Backtracking is trying every sequence of moves to find an answer. If we find an
answer, we don't try any other sequence of moves.
So, initially from the starting point (0, 0), we have to make a choice which is
which place should the knight be landed on such that it will derive me a knight
tour. We can land on 2 possible locations (1, 2) and (2, 1). Assume that (1, 2)
doesn't give us a knight tour but (2, 1) gives. So if you try (1, 2) first, you would
reach the solution later than you would if you had chosen (2, 1). It's because
from (1, 2) there would be more choices to explore, but any of them would not
lead us to the solution(first all possible paths from (1, 2) need to be explored
before we back track and try (2, 1) which is obviously too slow.). So, if you
could prune the search path earlier, then could find solution faster. There are
some heuristics that would help us derive solution for the knight tour
efficiently(and for any N x N board if knight tour is possible).
ankit Aggarwal • 2 years ago
what will be the time complexity of this algorithm?
Mayank > ankit Aggarwal • 2 years ago
http://stackoverflow.com/quest...
Deepesh > ankit Aggarwal • 2 years ago
@Admin Plz reply
Stéphane • 2 years ago
Has anyone tried to start from others positions than [0][0] ?
Guest > Stéphane • 2 years ago
Yes, it is taking very long for other positions
arjomanD • 2 years ago
Hello Every1 . I had a question . i have my code BUT it works very very Slow for N=8
(in fact i havn't still got the answer !
Would you Plz help me make my code and algorithm better ?
http://paste.ubuntu.com/742019...
Thanks !
KC • 3 years ago
Knight moves 2 squares in the direction of one of the axes of the board, and then 1
square in an orthogonal direction. This definition can then be generalized to obtain an
(a, b) knight. If the numbers a+b and ab are coprime, tour is also possible in non 8x8
board using this similar algorithm.
Probe • 3 years ago
Here is also my implementation of the above algorithm for java:
[code]public class HorseTraversing{
public static void printBoard(int[][] board){
for (int i=0; i<board.length; i++){="" for="" (int="" y="0;" y<board.length;="" y++){="" if=""
(board[i][y]=""> 9){
System.out.print(board[i][y] + " ");
}else {
System.out.print(" " + board[i][y] + " ");
}
}
System.out.println();
}
}
public static boolean isSafeMove(int moveX, int moveY, int[][] board){
int maxPosition = (board.length 1);
see more
dark_night • 3 years ago
I am still not getting the difference between backtracking and recursion.. especially for
this problem
Here also we are using every possible move and in recursion too we do the same , so
how does backtracking is more efficient than recursion.
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6/4/2016 Backtracking

Placements Practice GATE CS IDE Q&A

Backtracking works in an incremental way to attack problems. Typically, we start from an empty solution

88 Comments Category: Backtracking Tags: Backtracking

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