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Zig-Zag Numberlink is NP-Complete
- Publication Year :
- 2014
-
Abstract
- When can $t$ terminal pairs in an $m \times n$ grid be connected by $t$ vertex-disjoint paths that cover all vertices of the grid? We prove that this problem is NP-complete. Our hardness result can be compared to two previous NP-hardness proofs: Lynch's 1975 proof without the ``cover all vertices'' constraint, and Kotsuma and Takenaga's 2010 proof when the paths are restricted to have the fewest possible corners within their homotopy class. The latter restriction is a common form of the famous Nikoli puzzle \emph{Numberlink}; our problem is another common form of Numberlink, sometimes called \emph{Zig-Zag Numberlink} and popularized by the smartphone app \emph{Flow Free}.
- Subjects :
- Computer Science - Computational Complexity
Subjects
Details
- Database :
- arXiv
- Publication Type :
- Report
- Accession number :
- edsarx.1410.5845
- Document Type :
- Working Paper