How to put 6 rooks which they wont' attack each other?

Question

We're presented with the following chessboard, and we aim to determine the number of arrangements in which 6 rooks can be placed without threatening each other. It's crucial to note that rooks cannot be placed on squares of the hashed squares. How many such arrangements are possible?

I'm trying to determine the coefficient of $x^6$ in the rook polynomial. However, solving it directly seems overly complex. I attempted to apply the inclusion-exclusion principle, but unfortunately, my efforts were unsuccessful

Answer 1

There are $6!$ ways to arrange rooks so that none beat each other. But we must subtract the number of arrangements where rooks take prohibited spots. Using inclusion-exclusion I got the following expression:

$$6!-8*5!+(6+5+4+3+3+1)*4!-(11+7+4+1+1)*3!+(3+2+1+2+1)*2!-1.$$

The number of arrangements where $k$ rooks take the prohibited squares can be calculated manually, looking at the picture. So the answer is $$161.$$

Answer 2

There is a standard result for rook polynomials with restricted squares, see for example Rook Polynomials for Chessboards of Two and Three Dimensions. If $R(B)=\sum{r_k(B)x^k}$ is a rook polynomial for a set of forbidden squares $B$, then the total number of arrangements of $n$ rooks is given by inclusion-exclusion as $$ n!-r_1(B)(n-1)!+r_2(B)(n-2)!+\dots+(-1)^nr_n(B)0!. $$

To compute $R(B)$ you can decompose $B$ into disjoint regions - sets that do not share a row or column. In your example you have a clear choice of the upper-left and lower-right regions $B_1$ and $B_2$, respectively, then you can compute by hand that $R(B_1)=1+5x+6x^2+x^3$ and $R(B_2)=1+3x+x^2$. So you have $$ R(B)=(1+5x+6x^2+x^3)(1+3x+x^2)=1+8x+22x^2+24x^3+9x^4+x^5. $$ The total number of arrangements is then $$ 6!-8\cdot 5!+22\cdot 4!-24\cdot 3!+9\cdot 2!-1\cdot 1!=161. $$

For more details, see the linked paper. You might also want to check this rook polynomial calculator.

Note: On a generic board, swapping any two rows or columns can be helpful in finding disjoint regions, since swapping does not change the original problem.