Nonomino

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A nonomino or Jigsaw Sudoku puzzle, as seen in The Sunday Telegraph A nonomino sudoku.svg
A nonomino or Jigsaw Sudoku puzzle, as seen in The Sunday Telegraph

A nonomino (or enneomino or 9-omino) is a polyomino of order 9; that is, a polygon in the plane made of 9 equal-sized squares connected edge to edge. [1] The name of this type of figure is formed with the prefix non(a)-. When rotations and reflections are not considered to be distinct shapes, there are 1,285 different free nonominoes. When reflections are considered distinct, there are 2,500 one-sided nonominoes. When rotations are also considered distinct, there are 9,910 fixed nonominoes. [2]

Contents

Symmetry

The 1,285 free nonominoes can be classified according to their symmetry groups: [2]

Reflection-symmetric-nonominoes-90-deg.svg

Reflection-symmetric nonominoes 45-deg.svg

C2-Rotation-symmetric nonominoes.svg

D2 Rotation and Reflection Symmetric Nonominoes.svg

D4 Rotation and Reflection Symmetric Nonominoes.svg

Unlike octominoes, there are no nonominoes with rotational symmetry of order 4 or with two axes of reflection symmetry aligned with the diagonals.

If reflections of a nonomino are considered distinct, as they are with one-sided nonominoes, then the first and fourth categories above double in size, resulting in an extra 1,215 nonominoes for a total of 2,500. If rotations are also considered distinct, then the nonominoes from the first category count eightfold, the ones from the next three categories count fourfold, the ones from the fifth category count twice, and the ones from the last category count only once. This results in 1,196 × 8 + (38+26+19) × 4 + 4 × 2 + 2 = 9,910 fixed nonominoes.

Packing and tiling

The two nonominoes which can tile the plane, but cannot form a patch which satisfies the Conway criterion. Conway criterion false negative nonominoes.svg
The two nonominoes which can tile the plane, but cannot form a patch which satisfies the Conway criterion.

37 nonominoes have holes. [3] [4] Therefore a complete set cannot be packed into a rectangle and not all nonominoes have tilings. Of the 1285 free nonominoes, 960 satisfy the Conway criterion and 88 more can form a patch satisfying the criterion. Two additional nonominoes admit tilings, but satisfy neither of the previous criteria. [5] This is the lowest order of polyomino for which such exceptions exist. [6]

One nonomino has a two-square hole (second rightmost in the top row) and is the smallest polyomino with such a hole.

The 37 Nonominoes with Holes.svg

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Derived from the Greek word for '5', and "domino", a pentomino is a polyomino of order 5; that is, a polygon in the plane made of 5 equal-sized squares connected edge to edge. When rotations and reflections are not considered to be distinct shapes, there are 12 different free pentominoes. When reflections are considered distinct, there are 18 one-sided pentominoes. When rotations are also considered distinct, there are 63 fixed pentominoes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tetromino</span> Four squares connected edge-to-edge

A tetromino is a geometric shape composed of four squares, connected orthogonally. Tetrominoes, like dominoes and pentominoes, are a particular type of polyomino. The corresponding polycube, called a tetracube, is a geometric shape composed of four cubes connected orthogonally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polyomino</span> Geometric shapes formed from squares

A polyomino is a plane geometric figure formed by joining one or more equal squares edge to edge. It is a polyform whose cells are squares. It may be regarded as a finite subset of the regular square tiling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dihedral group</span> Group of symmetries of a regular polygon

In mathematics, a dihedral group is the group of symmetries of a regular polygon, which includes rotations and reflections. Dihedral groups are among the simplest examples of finite groups, and they play an important role in group theory, geometry, and chemistry.

A polyiamond is a polyform whose base form is an equilateral triangle. The word polyiamond is a back-formation from diamond, because this word is often used to describe the shape of a pair of equilateral triangles placed base to base, and the initial 'di-' looks like a Greek prefix meaning 'two-'. The name was suggested by recreational mathematics writer Thomas H. O'Beirne in New Scientist 1961 number 1, page 164.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hexomino</span> Geometric shape formed from six squares

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A polycube is a solid figure formed by joining one or more equal cubes face to face. Polycubes are the three-dimensional analogues of the planar polyominoes. The Soma cube, the Bedlam cube, the Diabolical cube, the Slothouber–Graatsma puzzle, and the Conway puzzle are examples of packing problems based on polycubes.

The Schoenfliesnotation, named after the German mathematician Arthur Moritz Schoenflies, is a notation primarily used to specify point groups in three dimensions. Because a point group alone is completely adequate to describe the symmetry of a molecule, the notation is often sufficient and commonly used for spectroscopy. However, in crystallography, there is additional translational symmetry, and point groups are not enough to describe the full symmetry of crystals, so the full space group is usually used instead. The naming of full space groups usually follows another common convention, the Hermann–Mauguin notation, also known as the international notation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tromino</span> Geometric shape formed from three squares

A tromino or triomino is a polyomino of size 3, that is, a polygon in the plane made of three equal-sized squares connected edge-to-edge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heptomino</span> Geometric shape formed from seven squares

A heptomino is a polyomino of order 7; that is, a polygon in the plane made of 7 equal-sized squares connected edge to edge. The name of this type of figure is formed with the prefix hept(a)-. When rotations and reflections are not considered to be distinct shapes, there are 108 different free heptominoes. When reflections are considered distinct, there are 196 one-sided heptominoes. When rotations are also considered distinct, there are 760 fixed heptominoes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dihedral group of order 6</span> Non-commutative group with 6 elements

In mathematics, D3 (sometimes alternatively denoted by D6) is the dihedral group of degree 3 and order 6. It equals the symmetric group S3. It is also the smallest non-abelian group.

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A regular tetrahedron has 12 rotational symmetries, and a symmetry order of 24 including transformations that combine a reflection and a rotation.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Octomino</span> Geometric shape formed from eight squares

An octomino is a polyomino of order 8; that is, a polygon in the plane made of 8 equal-sized squares connected edge to edge. When rotations and reflections are not considered to be distinct shapes, there are 369 different free octominoes. When reflections are considered distinct, there are 704 one-sided octominoes. When rotations are also considered distinct, there are 2,725 fixed octominoes.

In mathematics, a domino is a polyomino of order 2, that is, a polygon in the plane made of two equal-sized squares connected edge-to-edge. When rotations and reflections are not considered to be distinct shapes, there is only one free domino.

A decomino, or 10-omino, is a polyomino of order 10; that is, a polygon in the plane made of 10 equal-sized squares connected edge to edge. When rotations and reflections are not considered to be distinct shapes, there are 4,655 different free decominoes. When reflections are considered distinct, there are 9,189 one-sided decominoes. When rotations are also considered distinct, there are 36,446 fixed decominoes.

References

  1. Golomb, Solomon W. (1994). Polyominoes (2nd ed.). Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN   0-691-02444-8.
  2. 1 2 Redelmeier, D. Hugh (1981). "Counting polyominoes: yet another attack". Discrete Mathematics. 36: 191–203. doi: 10.1016/0012-365X(81)90237-5 .
  3. Weisstein, Eric W. "Polyomino". MathWorld .
  4. Sloane, N. J. A. (ed.). "SequenceA001419(Number of n-celled polyominoes with holes)". The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences . OEIS Foundation.
  5. Rawsthorne, Daniel A. (1988). "Tiling complexity of small n-ominoes (n<10)". Discrete Mathematics. 70: 71–75. doi: 10.1016/0012-365X(88)90081-7 .
  6. Rhoads, Glenn C. (2005). "Planar tilings by polyominoes, polyhexes, and polyiamonds". Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics. 174 (2): 329–353. doi:10.1016/j.cam.2004.05.002.