Given a 3x3 square with 9 distinct entries, can all permutations of the elememts in the square be reached when the only legal operation is to rotate a 2x2 subsquare 90 deg clockwise? (A rotation on the same subsquare may be done multiple times.) If not how many positions are attainable?

Example, rotating the upper left 2x2 square.
1 2 3    4 1 3
4 5 6 -> 5 2 6
7 8 9    7 8 9

(In reply to Thoughts by Osi)

Yea, I thought it through and all the different positions could of been done by rotating the 2x2 sub-square. This was too easy.

Posted by ron on 2004-12-31 00:28:36