arXiv:2607.20669math.GM
Counting, Symmetries and Equivalence Classes of Sudoku Grids
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Abstract
Sudoku is a widely popular puzzle whose complete grids have been enumerated computationally: there are approximately $6.67 \times 10^{21}$ of them and, up to symmetry and renaming of digits, $5,472,730,538$ essentially different ones. The classical enumeration reduces the count to $44$ equivalence classes of the first band through a chain of ad hoc reductions, leaving the number $44$ without any apparent structural explanation. We present an alternative derivation of these $44$ classes, in which they arise as isomorphism classes of unordered triples (multisets) of column partitions under relabeling, a single invariant that replaces the original chain of reductions. This invariant makes it possible to apply Burnside's Lemma by hand: we recover $44$ through a closed derivation requiring no computational enumeration.
There is a way of understanding all this through group theory. eg: https://arxiv.org/html/2607.20669 'Counting, Symmetries and Equivalence Classes of Sudoku Grids' where an 'equivalence class' is a set of structures (such as filled Sudoku grids) that are all equivalent under…
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