Let me first start out by saying as you might have guessed, this is a homework problem. Therefore I am not looking for an answer to the question. I am looking for help in how to analyze it (My textbook is horrid).
I have a grid of 9 squares surrounded by a circle. I can use three colors to color each region with no region touching any other region with the same color (corners don't count). **`
I am asked to find the number of possible different colorings.
I drew a set of nodes with lines connecting neighboring regions, but I still have no idea how to figure out the number of combinations.
I also made a guess of three (which I know is wrong) since you can color the regions once with the three colors then map each color to a different one two times after the first coloring.
No blue is touching any other blue regions, no white is touching any other white regions, no red is touching any other red regions.