Hamiltonian Paths in Projective Checkerboards

Margaret H. Forbush1, Elizabeth Hanson1, Susan Kim1, Andrew Mauer-Oats2, Rhian Merris2, Jennifer Oats-Sargent2, Seth Oldham3, Kate Sharkey2, Dave Witte2
1DEPARTMENT OF MaTHEMATICS, WILLIAMS COLLEGE, WILLIAMSTOWN, MA 01267
2DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS, WILLIAMS COLLEGE, WILLIAMSTOWN, MA 01267
3DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS, MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE, MippLesury, VT 05753

Abstract

Place a checker in some square of an \(n \times n\) checkerboard. The checker is allowed to step either to the east or to the north, and is allowed to step off the edge of the board in a manner suggested by the usual identification of the edges of the square to form a projective plane. We give an explicit description of all the routes that can be taken by the checker to visit each square exactly once.