Amazing Mazes!

An m×n maze is an m×n rectangular grid with walls placed between grid cells such that there is exactly one path from the top-left square to any other square. The following are examples of a 9×12 maze and a 15×20 maze:

Let C(m,n) be the number of distinct m×n mazes. Mazes which can be formed by rotation and reflection from another maze are considered distinct.

It can be verified that C(1,1) = 1, C(2,2) = 4, C(3,4) = 2415, and C(9,12) = 2.5720e46 (in scientific notation rounded to 5 significant digits). Find C(100,500) and write your answer in scientific notation rounded to 5 significant digits.

When giving your answer, use a lowercase e to separate mantissa and exponent. E.g. if the answer is 1234567891011 then the answer format would be 1.2346e12.

Written by gamwe6 who lives and works in San Francisco building useful things. You should follow him on Twitter