#P6183. Cows' Gray Code Game
Cows' Gray Code Game
Cows' Gray Code Game
Farmer John wants to give his cows some intellectual stimulation by having them play a game before they relax. The game board consists of \(n\) identical holes, which are initially all empty. A move in the game is defined as either placing a stone in an empty hole (covering it) or removing a stone from a covered hole (uncovering it). The game state is determined by which holes are covered and which are empty.
The goal is to produce a valid sequence of moves such that:
- Every possible game state (all \(2^n\) states) is visited exactly once.
- The sequence returns to the initial state (all holes empty) at the end.
This problem is equivalent to finding a Hamiltonian cycle in an \(n\)-dimensional hypercube, which is classically solved by generating a Gray code cycle. For a given integer \(n\), a Gray code sequence is a sequence of \(2^n\) binary numbers where any two consecutive numbers differ by exactly one bit. In our problem, each binary digit is mapped as follows:
0
corresponds to an empty hole (denoted by O).1
corresponds to a covered hole (denoted by X).
For example, when \(n = 3\), one valid solution sequence is:
Time | Hole 1 | Hole 2 | Hole 3 | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
0 | O | O | O | Initial state (all empty) |
1 | O | X | O | Cover hole 2 |
2 | O | X | X | Cover hole 3 |
3 | O | O | X | Uncover hole 2 |
4 | X | O | X | Cover hole 1 |
5 | X | X | X | Cover hole 2 |
6 | X | X | O | Uncover hole 3 |
7 | X | O | O | Uncover hole 2 |
8 | O | O | O | Uncover hole 1 (return to initial state) |
Your task is to write a program that, given \(n\), prints a valid solution: a sequence of game states (each state represented as a string of length \(n\) where O
denotes an empty hole and X
denotes a covered hole). The sequence should contain \(2^n + 1\) lines — all \(2^n\) unique states followed by the initial state again.
inputFormat
The input consists of a single integer \(n\) (\(1 \leq n \leq 16\)), representing the number of holes.
outputFormat
Output \(2^n + 1\) lines. Each line is a string of length \(n\) where each character is either O
(an empty hole) or X
(a covered hole). The first line should correspond to the initial state (all holes empty) and the last line should be identical to the first line.
sample
1
O
X
O
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