5.

Kirkmans Schoolgirl Problem

In a boarding school there are fifteen schoolgirls who always take their daily
walks in row of threes. How can it be arranged so that each schoolgirl walks in the
same row with every other schoolgirl exactly once a week?

This extraordinary problem was posed in the Ladys and Gentlemans Diary for 1850, by
the English mathematician T.P. Kirkman. We give two solutions of the many that have
been found. One is by the English minister Andrew Frost ("General Solution and Extension
of the Problem of the 15 Schoolgirls", Quarterly Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics,
vol. XI, 1871) and the other is that of B. Pierce ("Cyclic Solutions of the Schoolgirl Puzzle",
The Astronomical Journal, vol. VI, 1859-1861). (Drrie asserts that Sylvester thought
Pierces solution the best, but does not state how many solutions he examined.)

Frosts Solution

The problem consists of arranging the 15 elements

x, a 1 , a 2 , b 1 , b 2 , c 1 , c 2 , d 1 , d 2 , e 1 , e 2 , f 1 , f 2 , g 1 , g 2
in seven columns of five triplets each in such a way that any two elements always occur in
one and only one of the 35 triplets. We shall select
xa 1 a 2 |xb 1 b 2 |xc 1 c 2 |xd 1 d 2 |xe 1 e 2 |xf 1 f 2 |xg 1 g 2
as the initial triplets of the seven columns. Then we only have to distribute the 14 elements
a 1 , a 2 , b 1 , b 2 , . . . , g 1 , g 2 over the other four lines of our system.
Using the seven letters a, b, c, d, e, f, we form groups of triplets in which each pair of
letters occurs exactly once:
abc ade afg bdf beg cdg cef

From this group we can take exactly four triplets for each column that contain all the letters
except for those in the first line of the column. If we put the triplets in alphabetical order in
each column, we get the following preliminary arrangement:

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

xa 1 a 2 xb 1 b 2 xc 1 c 2 xd 1 d 2 xe 1 e 2 xf 1 f 2 xg 1 g 2
bdf ade ade abc abc abc abc
beg afg afg afg afg ade ade
cdg cdg bdf beg bdf beg bdf
cef cef beg cef cdg cdg cef

Now we have to index the triplets bdf, beg, cdg, cef, ade, afg, abc, i.e., provide them with
indices of 1 or 2. We index them in the order just mentioned, i.e., first all triplets bdf, then

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all triplets beg, etc., observing the following three rules:

1. When a letter in one column has been indexed, the next time that letter occurs in
the same column, it gets the other index number.
2. If two letters of a triplet have already been indexed, these two index numbers
must not be used in the same sequence for the same letters in other triplets.
3. If the index number of a letter is not determined by the first two rules, the letter is
assigned the index number 1.

The letters will be indexed in three steps:

First step. The triplets bdf, beg, cdg, cef and all the letters aside from a that can be indexed
by rules 1, 2 and 3 are successively indexed. (Note: ALL bdfs in the order
b 1 d 1 f 1 , b 1 d 2 f 2 , b 2 d 1 f 2 , b 2 d 2 f 1 are done first, then all begs, etc.) The result is:
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
xa 1 a 2 xb 1 b 2 xc 1 c 2 xd 1 d 2 xe 1 e 2 xf 1 f 2 xg 1 g 2
b1d1f1 ad 2 e 2 ad 1 e 1 ab 2 c 2 ab 1 c 1 ab 2 c 1 ab 1 c 2
b 2 e 1 g 1 af 2 g 2 af 1 g 1 af 2 g 1 af 1 g 2 ad 2 e 1 ad 1 e 2
c1d2g2 c1d1g1 b1d2f2 b1e1g2 b2d1f2 b1e2g1 b2d2f1
c2e2f2 c2e1f1 b2e2g2 c1e2f1 c2d2g1 c2d1g2 c1e1f2

(The reader is advised to do this on his/her own.)

Second step. The missing indices for a in the triplets ade and afg and for the last two as
in line 2 are assigned. The result is:

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

xa 1 a 2 xb 1 b 2 xc 1 c 2 xd 1 d 2 xe 1 e 2 xf 1 f 2 xg 1 g 2
b1d1f1 a 1 d 2 e 2 a 1 d 1 e 1 ab 2 c 2 ab 1 c 1 a1b2c1 a1b1c2
b2e1g1 a2f2g2 a2f1g1 af 2 g 1 af 1 g 2 a2d2e1 a2d1e2
c1d2g2 c1d1g1 b1d2f2 b1e1g2 b2d1f2 b1e2g1 b2d2f1
c2e2f2 c2e1f1 b2e2g2 c1e2f1 c2d2g1 c2d1g2 c1e1f2

Third step. The still missing indices on a in columns 4 and 5 are inserted, in accordance
with the rules above. The final result is:

2
 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
xa 1 a 2 xb 1 b 2 xc 1 c 2 xd 1 d 2 xe 1 e 2 xf 1 f 2 xg 1 g 2
b1d1f1 a1d2e2 a1d1e1 a2b2c2 a2b1c1 a1b2c1 a1b1c2
b2e1g1 a2f2g2 a2f1g1 a1f2g1 a1f1g2 a2d2e1 a2d1e2
c1d2g2 c1d1g1 b1d2f2 b1e1g2 b2d1f2 b1e2g1 b2d2f1
c2e2f2 c2e1f1 b2e2g2 c1e2f1 c2d2g1 c2d1g2 c1e1f2

Pierces Solution

Designate one girl as ', whol walks in the middle of the same row all seven days of the
week; divide the other girls into two groups of 7, the girls in the first group designated by
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or by a, b, c, d, e, f, g and the second group designated by I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII or
by A, B, C, D, E, F, G. We also designate the days of the week Sunday, Monday,..., Saturday
by 0, 1, 2, . . . , 6.
Let the Sunday arrangement have the form:
a ) A
b * B
c + C
d ' D
E F G
Add the same number r  R, e.g. 1 and I, 2 and II, etc. to each number mod 7 to get
ar )r AR
br *r BR
cr +r CR
dr ' DR
ER FR GR
for the r th weekday. The arrangements so obtained provide a solution to the problem if the
following three conditions are satisfied:
1. ) " a  1, * " b  2 and + " c  3.
2. The seven differences A " a, A " ), B " b, B " *, C " c, C " + and D " d mod 7
equal 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 in some order.
3. F " E  1, G " F  2 and G " E  3.
Proof.
1. We show first that every girl x of the first group walks with every other girl y
of the first group.
By 1., x " y q oa " ) , ob " * , or oc " + mod 7, and just one of them,
say x " y q * " b mod 7, or x " * q y " b q r mod 7, with r  0, 1, . . . , 6. Then

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 x q *  r mod 7 and y q b  r mod 7
so girls x and y walk in the same row on day r.
2. Next we show that every girl x of the first group walks with every girl X of
the second group.
By 2., X " x is congruent mod 7 to just one of A " a, A " ), B " b, B " *,
C " c, C " + or D " d, say X " x q C " + mod 7, or X " C q x " + q s mod 7
with s  0, 1, . . . , 6. Then
X q C  S mod 7 and x q +  s mod 7
so girls X and x walk in the same row on day s. (Here S is the Roman
numeral for s. )
3. Finally we show that every girl X of the second group walks exactly once
with every other girl Y of the second group.
By 3., X " Y q oF " E , oG " F , or oG " E mod 7, and just one of
them, say X " Y q G " F mod 7, or X " G q Y " F q R mod 7, with
R  VII, I, . . . , VI. Then
X q G  R mod 7 and Y q F  R mod 7
so girls X and Y walk in the same row on day R. R

Thus, we need only satisfy conditions 1,2 and 3 to obtain the Sunday arrangement.
a  1, b  3, c  4, d  6, )  2, *  5, +  7 and A  I, B  VI, C  II, D  III, E  IV, F  V
and G  VII satisfy all the conditions. The differences in 2. are
0, "1, 3, 1, "2, "5, "3 q 0, 6, 3, 1, 5, 2, 4 mod 7. b
The Sunday arrangement is therefore
1 2 I
3 5 VI
4 7 II
6 ' III
IV V VII
and the weekday rows are:
2 3 II 3 4 III 4 5 V
4 6 VII 5 7 I 6 1 II
5 1 III 6 2 IV 7 3 V
7 ' IV 1 ' V 2 ' VI
V VI I, VI VII II, VII I III,

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 5 6 V 6 7 VI 7 1 VII
7 2 III 1 3 IV 2 4 V
1 4 VI 2 5 VII 3 6 I
3 ' V 4 ' 1 5 ' II
I II IV, II III V, III IV VI.

[Kirkmans schoolgirl problem is an example of a problem in combinatorial design

theory. The solution is an example of a resolvable 35, 15, 7, 3, 1 design. See for example
Introductory Combinatorics (0-12-110830-9) by Kenneth P. Bogart, Harcourt, 2000.]