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Abstract Algebra in Permutation Puzzles


Nothing sharpens the mind while providing hours of entertainment better than a good
puzzle. Puzzles often force the solver to think in ways he or she has never thought before. There
are many different kinds of puzzles. Jigsaw puzzles, for instance, are solved by freely moving
individual pieces to their solved position, and when all pieces are in their solved position, an
image is revealed. However, there exist puzzles in which the act of solving them may require
them to be scrambled up a bit more. Some such puzzles include the Rubiks Cube and the Oval
Track. In these puzzles, the act of moving one piece of the puzzle moves others at the same time.
In other puzzles, the ability for one piece to be moved is dependent on the location of other
pieces. The Slide Puzzle is a good example of this type of puzzle. These three puzzles can be
analyzed in terms of abstract algebra concepts because they rely on the permuting of the puzzle
pieces. For this reason they are appropriately called permutation puzzles. Taking note of how
the pieces permute is essential to the successful solving of these puzzles. By analyzing the
structure of the permutations one can discover algorithms to solve these puzzles and well as
uncover interesting properties relating to solvability, and perhaps, insolvability of the puzzle. In
this paper we discuss the mathematics behind the Rubiks Cube, the Oval Track, and the Slide
puzzle.
In order to determine an algorithm to solve these puzzles, we need to first discuss the
abstract algebra used in them. The first thing we need to note is that each of these three puzzles is
solved with a different set of moves, varying from the twisting of a face of the cube, the shifting
of discs, or sliding of tiles. These moves are considered permutations. A permutation is a
bijective function from some set S to itself or, more generally, a rearrangement of objects
(Kiltinen 56; Davis 180). These permutations have a parity that give us insight as to whether or
not a given puzzle arrangement is solvable. This is helpful if one is using a computer program

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that randomly generates a scrambled puzzle without giving any consideration to the solvabili ty
of it. There are two special kinds of permutations that we must consider in order to solve these
puzzles: conjugates and commutators. We introduce them as permutations in Sn, which is the set
of all permutations on the set n, where n = {1,2,3,,n}.
The permutation ideas used in the solving of these puzzles can be found in any text about
abstract algebra, for example Contemporary Abstract Algebra by Joseph A. Gallian. In this paper
we use cycle notation to represent a permutation. Let be the permutation represented by the
cycle (b1, b2,, bn). A permutation is called disjoint if it can be represented in cycles without any
common elements. Every permutation can be expressed with disjoint cycles. Permutations can
also be written as the product of transpositions, which are cycles of two elements. In this case
= (b1,b2)(b1,b3)(b1,bn). We determine the parity of a permutation by considering the number
of transpositions needed to express a given permutation. A permutation is considered even if it
can be written as the product of an even number of transpositions and odd if it can be written as
the product of an odd number of transpositions. Since a given permutation can be represented in
different ways, considering non- disjoint and disjoint cycles, it can also be expressed with
different numbers of transpositions. We know, however, by the Parity Theorem that each of the
transposition compositions has the same parity.
Conjugates are permutations of a specific form that help us solve our puzzles. By
definition, we say is a conjugate of if there is some permutation such that = -1 for any
two permutations and in Sn. By a theorem we know for any two permutations and in Sn,
and -1 have the same cycle structure. This means that the conjugate of is made up of the
same number of cycles of the same length as the permutation of . This would be easy to see if
the permutations commute, for -1 = (-1) = . However, permutations do not commute in

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most groups, particularly in the permutation groups on the Rubiks Cube, Oval Track, and Slide
Puzzle.
Commutators, along with conjugates, are essential to the solving of permutation puzzles.
By definition, the commutator of any two permutations, and , in Sn is the permutation
-1-1. This is similar to the form of a conjugate permutation, but in this case, if the
permutations and commute, the commutator is equivalent to the identity permutation, , for
-1-1 = (-1)-1 = -1 = . Now we want to consider the form of the commutator of and .
To do this, we look at M and M where M and M are the subgroups of n containing elements
that are moved by permutations and , respectively. Therefore, M = {k | k n and k k}
and M = { k | k n and k k}. Kiltinen points out that we can observe two results to an
element, k, being moved by the commutator = -1-1:
(1) If a number k is in M, then k M or k M.
(2) If a number k is in M, then k M or k M (122).
This is proved by showing the contrapositive is true. In the first part of the first observation,
since k k we know that k = j for some element j M. Hence, k = j-1 and k (M)-1. Using
the same logic, we can say k = j-1 and k (M)-1. In terms of notation we can conclude
M (M (M)-1) (M (M)-1).
Note that M and (M)-1 have the same number of elements, and M and (M)-1 have the same
number of elements. Thus (M (M)-1) (M (M)-1) has, at most, twice the number of
elements that the set with the fewest elements contains. Kiltinen sums this up and gives the
following equation on page 123 that tells us the form of a given commutator:
| M | 2 min{|M|,|M|}.
Along with this formula, we know the form of the commutator of two permutations in Sn is
always even, for a permutation and its inverse -1 have the same parity (Kiltinen 125). This

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knowledge about the form has interesting implications specifically on the Oval Track due to the
fact that the puzzle has two basic moves used in creating compositions of permutations that we
can relate to the two permutations that compose the commutator.
These permutations described on Sn can be applied to other sets and groups. Conjugates
and commutators are essential to composing larger permutations that are used to systematically
swap, flip, and rotate the pieces on the Rubiks Cube. The parity of permutations and
compositions of commutators become an important concept on the Oval Track. Additionally, the
parity of permutations gives us insight into the solvability of a particular pattern on the Slide
Puzzle. We first consider the Rubiks Cube.
The Rubiks Cube is a popular puzzle that has stumped puzzle solvers since its creation
in 1974 by Erno Rubik (Rubiks Cube). The Rubiks Cube, as the name suggests, is a cube
made up of 26 smaller cubies, as the spinning axel that allows the layers of the cube to twist is
located where the 27th cubie would be. Each face on the 3 cubies by 3 cubies by 3 cubies cube is
a different color and the faces on the individual cubies are different colors. The solved puzzle has
faces of uniform color. The faces can be rotated, or twisted, to move the cubies to different spots
on the cube. These cubies have a finite number of location possibilities. Therefore, twisting the
faces of a Rubiks Cube permutes the cubies. Additionally, if we define a move to be any
sequence of twists, then the set of all moves forms a group, where the group operation is
composition of moves (Davis 180). The Rubiks Cube can be analyzed in terms of group theory
ideas. Rotations of the cubes faces can be thought of as permutations, and the set of
permutations forms a group with many subgroups, one being the slice group, that is, the
subgroup generated by turning only the center layers of the cube (Hecker and Banjeri 211).
In this paper we use common Rubiks Cube notation, as Davis uses, to talk about the
cube. The cubies of the Rubiks Cube are classified as corner cubies if they have three visible

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faces, edge cubies if they have two visible faces, and center cubies if they only have one face
visible. We call the faces of the cubies facelets (Hecker and Banjeri 211). To differentiate the
different sides of the cube, we name the faces of the cube front, back, left, right, up,
and down and abbreviate them by using the first letter of the name. Thus, to differentiate the
individual cubies we label them according to the face of the cube on which the facelets are
present. For example, FR is the edge cubie whose two visible facelets are on the front and right
face of the Rubiks Cube. In the figures and later example, the green face is the front face,
while the red is the right face, blue is the back face, orange is the left face, white is the
up face, and yellow is the down face. Since we are analyzing the cube in terms of
permutations generated by face twists, we need notation to represent the face twists. A face twist
is defined as a rotation of the face positioned in ones right hand. We represent a clockwise face
twist with the capital letter naming the face, F for the front face, B for the back face, R for
the right face, etc. A counter- clockwise face twist has an exponent of -1. For example, L is a
clockwise twist of the left face, and a counter- clockwise twist of the left face is denoted L-1.
Twisting a face twicecalled a half turnis represented with an exponent of two. We use cycle
notation to represent the permutation of cubies generated by sequences of face twists. For
example, the cycle (DFR,UFR) tells us the two corner cubies are swapped, pictured below in
Figure 1.

Figure 1: The cycle (DFR, UFR) swaps two corner cubies.

Along with this notation we refer to states of the cube and cubies with the terms clean
slate and home position. Clean slate is a term used to describe the cube when all six faces

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have solid colors (Hecker and Banjeri 211). Home position is the position of any facelet or
cubie when the cube is in the clean slate (Hecker and Banjeri 212).
We have previously described permutations on Sn. Now, applying permutations to the
Rubiks Cube, we know after a sequence of twists is performed, a cubie is sent to the home
position of another cubie, which is sent to the home position of another cubie, and so on. The
cubies become rearranged on the cube. Considering the finite number of possible locations for a
given cubie brings about an important, but perhaps trivial, observation. Corner cubies can only
permute with other corner cubies, edge cubies with other edge cubies, and the center cubies with
center cubies. This makes the fact that sequences of face twists may produce disjoint cycles more
evident. Consider the moves H=R-1LBRL-1D2R -1LBRL-1 and M= RDR-1LD-1L-1. H produces the
permutation (DL,DF,DR) and M produces the permutation
(UBR,DBL,DBR)(UFL,DFL,DFR)(DF,BR,DR)(DL,FL,DB).
The permutation generated by H is a single cycle that permutes three cubies while M creates a
permutation made up of four disjoint cycles. We make note of the order of the permutations
because it gives the number of times a sequence of twists must be performed to the clean slate in
order to return to the clean slate. The order of a permutation is the length of the cycle, if the
permutation is a single cycle. Otherwise, the order is the least common multiple (LCM) of the
lengths of the disjoint cycles that make up the permutation. In this case, H and M have an order
of three. Thus, performing H three times returns the cubies to their home positions. In the next
paragraph we discuss an extra consideration regarding permutations that topple corner cubies, as
M does.
Some permutations not only permute the cubies but also the facelets. When the facelets
permute on an edge cubie we say that the edge cubie is flipped, and when they permute on a

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corner cubie we say that the corner cubie is toppled (Davis 182). There are sequences of twists
that permute the facelets and not the cubies. Davis tells us on page 184 that the sequence
R-1LB2RL-1D-1R -1LBRL-1ULR -1B-1L-1RDLR-1B 2L-1RU-1 flips UB and UL. For moves that
permute both the cubies and facelets we must be careful when calculating the number of times a
move must be repeated from the clean slate to return to the clean slate. Consider the move
RD-1R-1D-1B -1DB that generates the permutation (DBR,DBL)(BR,DF,DB,DL) and topples LFD
(Davis 184). The order of this permutation is four. However, while performing this move four
times returns the cubies to their home position, it leaves the corner cubies toppled. We need to
take into account the permuting facelets to determine the number of repetitions required to take
the cube back to the clean slate. Now, this sequence produces a corner cubie cycle that permutes
their facelets, toppling the corner cubies while permuting them. The toppled cubies require the
sequence to be performed in a multiple of three times to put the cubie in the correct orientation.
We know the corner cubie cycle requires the move to be performed in a multiple of two times to
put the cubies in their original positions. Hence, we take the LCM of two and three to see that
after performing the sequence six times the cubies DBR and DBL are in the correct orientation in
their home positions. To determine the number of times the sequence of twists needs to be done
to get to the clean slate, we need to take the LCM of six and four (the length of the second
cycle). This gives us twelve, which since this is a multiple of three also puts the toppled cubie in
its correct orientation as well. Therefore, to determine the number to repetitions required to
return the Rubiks Cube to the clean slate, we have to calculate how many times each cycle of
the permutation must be performed and take the LCM of those values, as opposed to simple
calculating the order of the permutation.
Conjugates and commutators can be effectively applied to the Rubiks Cube. If A and P
are any two permutations then PAP-1 is called the conjugate of A relative to P (Davis 184). In

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applying this idea to the Rubiks Cube, A and P are sequences of twists and P-1 is the inverse of
P. That is, if P=BRD-1 then P-1=(BRD-1) -1=DR-1B-1 by the Socks- Shoes Property. Since we
know the cycle structure of the conjugate is the same as A, we conclude that the permutation
PAP-1 swaps the same number of cubies as A and requires the same number of repetitions of the
move to bring the cube back to the clean slate. Say A is a move that permutes two edge cubies on
the front face. Then one can permute any two edge cubies on the Rubiks Cube by using a
conjugate. One would have to use a move P would to move the two desired cubies to the front
face, perform A to permute the cubies, and then undoing P by doing its inverse, P-1 (Davis 184).
The commutator of permutations X and Y in the group is given by XYX-1Y-1 (Turner and Gold
628). We can use commutators to create a desired permutation. Say we want to create a
permutation that flips two cubies on the front face. If we can perform a sequence of face twists,
X, that flips one cubie on the front face, we can then apply another move, Y, to move the other
cubie we want to flip in the home position of the first flipped cubie, we can perform X-1 to flip it
and then Y-1 to return the two flipped cubies to their home positions (Davis 184). Since we
perform two operations followed by their inverses, the rest of the cube is unchangedleaving
only the newly flipped cubies in different orientations. Conjugates and commutators allow us to
compose sequences of permutations and their inverses in order to permute specific cubies and
facelets.
The slice group is one of the many subgroups of the permutation group on the Rubiks
Cube. This subgroup is generated by twisting only the center layers on the cube, that is, the
moves of this subgroup are generated by three pairs of twists: RL-1, UD-1, and FB-1 (Hecker and
Banjeri 212). One key observation is that in this subgroup, it is the corner cubies that are fixed
and the center cubies permute with other center cubies (Hecker and Banjeri 213). This subgroup
plays a special role when we consider 3 by 3 by 3 Rubiks Cubes that do not have solid colors on

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their faces. Some Rubiks Cubes have images on the different faces. In such a case, we need to
pay special attention to the orientation of the center cubies, as opposed to just toppled corners
and flipped edges. For this reason the subgroup is called the oriented slice group (Hecker and
Banjeri 215). Nevertheless, this subgroup is still generated by sequences of face twists that
permute cubies, and commutators and conjugates still help to manipulate the cubies in this
subgroup.
The solution to a mixed up Rubiks Cube can now be analyzed in terms of abstract
algebra ideas. The sequences of moves on the Rubiks Cube form a group that has many
subgroups, one of which is the slice group. Face twists permute both cubies and facelets. By
combining permutations in the forms of conjugates and commutators, one is able to manipulate
the cubies in a predictable way to solve the Rubiks Cube. When solving this puzzle, it is
relatively simple to complete the top layer of the cube. The challenging part is solving the middle
and bottom layers of the cube, for we must be careful not to destroy the progress made on the top
layer. Therefore, if one were to memorize a few key face twist sequences that flip edge cubies,
topple corner cubies, and permute these edge and corner pieces, the cubies in the middle and
bottom layers of the cube can be manipulated while leaving the top of the cube alone. This is the
key for allowing the puzzle-solver to conquer the notoriously challenging Rubiks Cube puzzle.
To see how this works, we are going to look at an example of a scrambled Rubiks Cube
and use our knowledge of permutations, orders of permutations, inverses, and conjugates to solve
it. When solving a mixed up Rubiks Cube, the first step to take is to solve the up face of the
Rubiks Cube. This is fairly simple because we do not have to worry about messing up any
solved layers of the cube. Figure 2 shows a mixed up Rubiks Cube with the top layer solved.
After solving the top layer, our goal is to solve the middle layer. In the puzzle we have
going, we can see we have three edge cubies out of place. Consider the move

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Figure 2: Front and back view of the Rubik's


Cube with the "up" face solved.

Figure 4: Front and back view of the Rubik's


Cube after the middle layer is solved.

Figure 3: Front and back view of the Rubik's


Cube after performing FC-1F-1.

Figure 5: Front and back view of the Rubiks


Cube after performing E and the conjugate
U-1EU.

C = U2D-1LD2F2D2LUDL2U. This move generates the permutation (DF, UR, FR). We can use
this permutation to solve our middle layer. While we can make use of a rather complex
conjugate requiring a sequence of face twists to move the cubies into these positions so that we
can permute them, we can use a much simpler conjugate by simply rotating the cube. If we
rotate the cube and let the orange face be the front face with the green face being the up face,
we can use this permutation. There are two more things we want to consider. First, we can
perform C-1 instead of performing C twice to put the edge cubie in its home position. Using the
Socks- Shoes Property, C-1=U-1L2D-1U-1L-1D2F2D2L-1DU2. Secondly, using the conjugate
FC-1F-1 we can move the blue/orange and green/red edge cubies into place. Figure 3 shows the
cube after performing this conjugate. Now there is one more edge cubie to solve in the middle
layer. By rotating the cube to let the green be the front face with red being the up face, we
perform C-1 to solve the middle layer, giving us the cube in Figure 4.
All that is left is to flip the two edge cubies and topple two corner cubies on the bottom
layer, for the cubies are in their home position but with the wrong orientation. We can rotate the

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cube to let the orange face be the front face with yellow as the up face and use the lengthy
move discussed earlier, E= R-1LB2RL-1D-1R-1LBRL-1ULR-1B -1L-1RDLR -1B2L-1RU-1, because it
flips UB and UL. This move flips a cubie that is already in the correct orientation, but this is
good because now we can perform the conjugate U-1EU to put all of the edge cubies in the
correct orientation. To finish, we need to topple the two corner cubies to put the facelets in their
home positions. We can make use of a permutation we already discussed; G= RD-1R-1D-1B -1DB
performs the permutation (DBR,DBL)(BR,DF,DB,DL) and topples LFD. Since the LFD cubie is
one that is toppled, we can perform this permutation multiple times to topple the cubie but leave
the other permuting cubies untouched. Performing this permutation four times topples the cubie
into the correct orientation while returning the cubies in the cycle of four to their home position.
The two corner cubies in the cycle of length two are still out of position and toppled. This is
easily fixed, however, when we perform F to put the RFD cubie into the LFD cubie position
followed by a few repetitions of the move G, for while we are toppling our last cubie they are put
into place. Therefore, performing the conjugate FG8F-1 returns all cubies to their home positions,
solving our Rubiks Cube.
There are many different permutations and processes we could have used to solve the
previous puzzle, and there are thousands of other possible puzzle configurations that could have
been used instead. It should be stated that there are quicker ways to returning the cube to the
clean slate. Using computer calculations, researchers determined in 2010 that each configuration
of the Rubiks Cube can be solved in, at most, 20 moves (Pickover 452). For this reason, 20 is
called Gods number. Our example was well above this upper bound, for we used a
permutation generated by 24 moves. This one move alone exceeded the maximum number of
required moves to solve the puzzle. Nevertheless, the group theory concepts we implemented can
be used to solve every mixed up Rubiks Cube.

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The Oval Track has striking similarities to the Rubiks Cube. In both puzzles, moving
one piece involves permuting other pieces at the same time. Hence, we need to look at the Oval
Track in terms of permutations, similar to the way we looked at the Rubiks Cube. Conjugates
and commutators prove to be just as relevant on the Oval Track. However, we need to introduce
the basics of the Oval Track, since it involves a different set of moves used to generate the
various permutations.
Topspin, an Oval Track puzzle, seems to have fallen out of popularity, as it is less widely
known compared to the Rubiks Cube. The Topspin puzzle, invented and patented in 1989 by
Ferdinand Lammertink, was produced by the Binary Arts Corporation (Scherphuis). Topspin is a
puzzle on an oval track filled with numbered pieces. This puzzle features a turntable that flips a
certain number of pieces, given by the size of the turntable. The goal of this puzzle is to put the
numbered pieces in numerical order. When the pieces are in numerical order with the 1 piece
in the first spot on the turntable, it is said to be in the clean slate. There are several variations to
this puzzle, but for the sake of this paper we focus on the original design with twenty numbered
pieces and a turntable size of four, similar to the image below in Figure 6.

19

20

18

17

8
16

15 14

13 12

11 10

Figure 6: The Oval Track puzzle in the clean slate.

There are two different kinds of moves to perform on the Oval Track: a shift and a flip.
A shift involves the sliding of all of the pieces in a single direction a given number of times
while a flip involves twisting the turntable, inverting the order of the four pieces located in the

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turntable. Like Kiltinen, we use R to denote a single shift in the clockwise direction, also using
R-1 to denote a single shift in the counter-clockwise direction. Like in the Rubiks Cube, we use
exponents to represent repeating a move multiple times. Thus R 4 would be a clockwise shift of
four. In the same way, we use T to denote a flip using the turntable. We do not differentiate
between a clockwise/counter-clockwise twist because T = T-1. When describing permutations
resulting from these moves, we again use cycle notation. From the clean slate, T generates the
permutation (1,4)(2,3). A move Rx, where x 0 to avoid the trivial case, permutes all of the
numbered pieces and can be written in y = GCD(x, 20) cycles, each with a length of

20

As previously mentioned, commutators are of particular interest on the Oval Track. Since
there are two basic moves, Rx and T, we can associate Rx to one of the permutations in a
commutator, , and T the other, . We know that a move Rx permutes all of the disks since all of
the pieces are shifted, thus M contains the numbers of all of the pieces, which is 20 in this
version of the Oval Track. Similarly, in this Oval Track puzzle T permutes four pieces, so from
the clean slate this gives M = {1,2,3,4}. Thus a commutator of the form RxTR-xT-1 moves a
maximum of 8 disks by our formula, that is, | M | 2 min{20,4}. A second important
observation is that commutators always produce even permutations. Since a permutation and its
inverse have the same parity, we know that regardless of the parity of and , -1-1 is even.
Thinking about this in terms of the Oval Track, we know the least number of pieces that can be
permuted by a commutator is 3, for a cycle with a length of 3 is the simplest even permutation.
We can now discuss the keys to solving the Oval Track. In this puzzle, it is fairly simple
to put the first 16 pieces in order. The challenging part of the puzzle comes when we are left with
four last jumbled pieces on the turntable. This is called the end game puzzle. There are 4!
different arrangements of these four pieces, thus, there are 24 different end game puzzles, one of

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which is the trivial case where the pieces are already in the correct configuration. For the other
23 end game puzzles we want to consider the sequence = TR-1TRTR-1TR-3. This sequence of
moves has special interest to us because it composes the move 5R that generates the
permutation (1,2). Since we can repeat multiple times to swap two adjacent pieces, we can use
this move to solve every end game puzzle. All we have to do is move two pieces that we want to
swap into home positions of the pieces we know we can permute and perform 5 to swap them.

19

20 3

18
17
16

15 14 13 12 11 10

20

6
7

19

18
17

20 2

17
15 14 13 12 11 10

20
7

19

18

Figure 10: The Oval Track after the shift


R2 to move the tiles we need to permute in
the correct positions.

7
8

20

19

10
17 16 15 14 13 12 11

Figure 9: The Oval Track after


5
performing .

7
8
9

17

8
9

18

16 15 14 13 12 11 10

18

16

Figure 8: The Oval Track after


5
performing .

Figure 7: Random End Game Puzzle

19

16 15 14 13 12 11 10

Figure 11: The Oval Track after


5
performing .

To see how this works, consider the random end puzzle in Figure 7. In this end game
puzzle, the first task is to move the 3 next to the 4. Performing 5 to the configuration in
Figure 7 results in the puzzle in Figure 8. Using 5 once more gives us the puzzle in Figure 9,
and the 3 piece is next to the 4 piece. The only pieces left to permute are the 1 and 2
pieces. To make this switch, we need to move the two pieces into the positions that are swapping
with the move 5. This is accomplished when we perform R2, pictured in Figure 10. Thus, to
solve the puzzle, we simply perform 5 once more, swapping 1 and 2, as seen in Figure 11.

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Therefore the Oval Track is in the clean slate after performing a final move, R, to the
configuration.
We should note that this is not the quickest way to solve the Oval Track: putting the first
16 pieces in order then performing multiple times over and over to arrange the pieces on the
turntable. For example, if we let = TRTR-1T and = R-3TR-1TRTR3, then the move
creates the permutation (3,4,5). If our end game puzzle can be described by the permutation
(1,2,3) or (2,3,4) it is a lot faster to perform a conjugate involving to permute the three
pieces as opposed to performing multiple times, only permuting two pieces at once.
The move 5R reveals an important feature of the Oval Track. Since it is possible to
permute two consecutive pieces, we know that every puzzle configuration is attainable (Bennett
13). One would simply have to perform 5R over and over, while moving different pieces into
the home positions of pieces 1 and 2 to swap them in order to create every possible
configuration. It is interesting to note that if this oval track puzzle had either nineteen or twentyone pieces, this would no longer be true, for it would be impossible to generate a sequence of
moves that only permute two adjacent pieces (Bennett 11). The makeup of the TopSpin puzzle,
with its twenty total pieces and turntable capable of permuting four pieces, allows for every
configuration to be attained. And while this is the case for the Oval Track, this is not the case for
the Slide Puzzle.
The Fifteen Puzzle, a well- known example of a slide puzzle, was invented around 1870
by Sam Lloyd (Archer 793). The Fifteen Puzzle is a small square tray containing fifteen
numbered tiles. Since the tray is four tiles by four tiles, there is a blank space. We also refer to
the blank space as the 16 tile. The goal of this puzzle is to slide the tiles around the tray to
place them in numerical order with the blank space in the lower right corner, pictured in Figure
12.

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1
5

2
6

3
7

4
8

9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16
Figure 12: The Slide Puzzle in
the clean slate.

To understand why some tile configurations are impossible to attain on the Slide Puzzle,
there is an important observation we must consider. Since we can only slide the tiles that are
adjacent to blank space, all of our moves are transpositions involving the 16 tile. Anytime we
move the 16 tile around the tray and return it to its home position in the lower right corner it
involves an even number of transpositions. Because of this movement, the only possible
configurations of the tiles in the Slide Puzzles are defined by an even permutation while the 16
tile is in the bottom right corner. That is, since the blank space is returned to its home position,
the permutations generated only permute the fifteen numbered tiles (Spitznagel 171-172).

9 13

6 10 14

7 11 15

9 10 12 11

8 12 16

13 14 15 16

Figure 13: Possible


configuration of the Slide
Puzzle.

Figure 14: Impossible


configuration of the Slide
Puzzle.

10 9

12 13 14 5

12 13 14 5

11 16 15 6

11 16 15 6

11 9 15 6

12 13 14 5

10 9

10 8

Figure 15: Possible


configuration of the Slide
Puzzle.

7 16

Figure 16: Possible


configuration of the Slide
Puzzle.

Figure 17: Impossible


configuration of the Slide
Puzzle.

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Looking at Figures 13-17 we see various possible and impossible tile configurations. One can
determine that only the possible arrangements can be described by even permutations with the
16 tile is in its home position.
This concept comes in handy in two ways. The first way involves playing with the
Fifteen Puzzle by putting the tiles into different arrangements. There are other variations to the
puzzle, requiring the puzzle solver to put the tiles into different arrangements other than the
ascending numerical order of the clean slate. For example, instead of putting the numbers into
numerical order horizontally, one could try to manipulate the tiles to place the numbers in
numerical order vertically, pictured in Figure 13. The puzzle solver can get creative and try to
come up with fancy tile arrangements and try to replicate them on the puzzle. However, if no
consideration is given to the parity of the permutation describing the arrangement, the specially
designed configuration might be impossible. To determine this, we could draw the configuration
on a piece of paper, calculate the permutation that is describing the configuration, and then take
into account the blank space. If the blank space is already in the lower right corner then no extra
considerations need to be made. If the blank space is someplace other than the lower right corner,
we need to add the transpositions required to slide the 16 tile to the lower right hand corner to
the permutation. For example, considering the tile arrangement in Figure 15, we note that it is
described by the permutation (5, 8, 15, 11, 9, 14, 7, 16, 10, 13, 6, 12). This is an odd
permutation, but we need to take into account the 16 tile since it is not in its home position.
Moving the 16 tile into its home position requires the transpositions (16, 9)(16, 8)(16, 7) to be
performed, which is an odd permutation. Thus, the following permutation is what we ultimately
need to consider to determine whether the configuration is attainable:
(5, 8, 15, 11, 9, 14, 7, 16, 10, 13, 6, 12)(16, 9)(16, 8)(16, 7).

Swick 18
Adding an odd permutation to the initial permutation produces an even permutation. We also
could have rewritten the permutation as the disjoint cycle (5, 8, 14, 7, 15, 11, 9, 10, 13, 6, 12),
which is an even permutation describing the tile arrangement in Figure 16. Hence, the puzzle in
Figure 15 is possible.
A key observation regarding the location of the blank space arises in this example.
Looking at Figure 18, in any tile arrangement, when the blank space is in a red square an even
number of transpositions is required to move the blank space to its home position. Likewise, an
odd number of transpositions is required to move the blank space to its home position when it is
in a blue square. Therefore, if we have puzzle arrangement defined by an even permutation but
the blank space is in a blue square, the tile configuration is impossible even though we may think
it is possible initially. Or else if we have an arrangement described by an odd permutation but the
blank space is in a blue square, the tile configuration is possible. It is easy to see that when the
blank space is in the upper left corner in a given configuration it is as if it were in the lower right
corner by symmetry.

Figure 18: Diagram for considering the blank


space and the transpositions required to return it
to its home position, denoted with a star.

The second way knowledge of impossible Slide Puzzle configurations is useful involves
computer versions of the Slide Puzzle. These computer programs randomly scramble the tiles in
the puzzle, without giving any consideration to the solvability of the scramble. Knowing that the
parity of the permutation creating the scramble must be even in order to be solvable, one would
have to move the 16 tile into the lower right corner of the puzzle and write the permutation

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describing the arrangement as the product of transpositions or else use the method discussed
previously to determine solvability. If the permutation is odd, we know that the configuration
would not be able to be attained from the clean slate, resulting in the randomly generated
scrambled puzzle to be unsolvable. If the permutation is even, then we know that the
arrangement is attainable from the clean slate and is therefore solvable.
We have analyzed the Rubiks Cube, Oval Track, and Slide Puzzle and discussed the
mathematics found in them. These permutation puzzles can be solved with abstract algebra
concepts and have interesting properties because of the permuting pieces. The Rubiks Cube and
Oval Track can always be solved by implementing conjugates and commutators, though it is not
always the fastest way to solve either puzzle. On the Oval Track there exists a sequence of
moves that generate a transposition permuting two adjacent numbered pieces, making every
puzzle configuration attainable. However, due to the parity of permutations, some tile
configurations on the Slide Puzzle are impossible. Therefore, since these puzzles can be solved
and examined in terms of abstract algebra concepts, any ambitious puzzle solver can conquer
these notoriously challenging puzzles with the power of mathematics!

Swick 20
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