3,1

The lace must pass through each eyelet exactly once, must begin and end at the extreme pair of eyelets and each eyelet must have at least one direct connection to the opposite side. The corresponding sequence including all configs where the lace crosses itself in the space between the eyelet rows is A078698. The only symmetric crossing-free lacing is 1234 for N=2.

Hugo Pfoertner, FORTRAN program, illustration of lacings for N=3,4

Index entries for sequences related to shoe lacings

With the notation introduced in A078602, the 4 crossing-free lacings for N=3 are 125346, 134256, 134526, 152346. Not counting mirror images we get a(3)=2. Lists of all crossing-free lacings for N=3,4,5,6 and illustrations of the lacings can be found following the FORTRAN program at the Pfoertner link.

FORTRAN program provided at Pfoertner link (including a subroutine LPG for lexicographic permutation generation)

Cf. A078602, A078698, A000384 (the maximum number of lace crossings that can occur in an n-eyelet pair shoe lacing is A000384(n-1)).

Sequence in context: A104084 A053465 A024027 this_sequence A002658 A034939 A048898

Adjacent sequences: A079407 A079408 A079409 this_sequence A079411 A079412 A079413

nonn

Hugo Pfoertner (hugo(AT)pfoertner.org), Jan 06 2003