MathDB
Least swaps to get any labeling of a regular 99-gon

Source: 2024 China MO, Day 2, Problem 6

November 29, 2023
combinatorics

Problem Statement

Let PP be a regular 9999-gon. Assign integers between 11 and 9999 to the vertices of PP such that each integer appears exactly once. (If two assignments coincide under rotation, treat them as the same. ) An operation is a swap of the integers assigned to a pair of adjacent vertices of PP. Find the smallest integer nn such that one can achieve every other assignment from a given one with no more than nn operations.
Proposed by Zhenhua Qu