hardBacktrackingBacktracking

N-Queens II

hardTime: O(n!)Space: O(n)

Recognize the pattern

count N-Queens solutionssame as N-Queens I but count onlyno board construction needed

Brute force idea

Same backtracking as N-Queens I.

Better approach

Same backtracking but increment counter instead of building boards. Slightly faster — no string construction. O(n!).

Key invariant

Same constraint checking: columns, positive diag, negative diag. Just count valid complete placements.

Watch out for

Building board strings — unnecessary for counting. Just count.

Backtracking Pattern