Olympiad problems

2015 Dutch Mathematical Olympiad, 2

On a $1000\times 1000$-board we put dominoes, in such a way that each domino covers exactly two squares on the board. Moreover, two dominoes are not allowed to be adjacent, but are allowed to touch in a vertex. Determine the maximum number of dominoes that we can put on the board in this way. [i]Attention: you have to really prove that a greater number of dominoes is impossible. [/i]

2016 IMO Shortlist, C8

Tags: IMO Shortlist , combinatorics , dominoes

Let $n$ be a positive integer. Determine the smallest positive integer $k$ with the following property: it is possible to mark $k$ cells on a $2n \times 2n$ board so that there exists a unique partition of the board into $1 \times 2$ and $2 \times 1$ dominoes, none of which contain two marked cells.

2018 EGMO, 4

Tags: combinatorics , dominoes , covering , EGMO , EGMO 2018

A domino is a $ 1 \times 2 $ or $ 2 \times 1 $ tile. Let $n \ge 3 $ be an integer. Dominoes are placed on an $n \times n$ board in such a way that each domino covers exactly two cells of the board, and dominoes do not overlap. The value of a row or column is the number of dominoes that cover at least one cell of this row or column. The configuration is called balanced if there exists some $k \ge 1 $ such that each row and each column has a value of $k$. Prove that a balanced configuration exists for every $n \ge 3 $, and find the minimum number of dominoes needed in such a configuration.

2020 IMEO, Problem 2

Tags: IMEO , combinatorics , dominoes

You are given an odd number $n\ge 3$. For every pair of integers $(i, j)$ with $1\le i \le j \le n$ there is a domino, with $i$ written on one its end and with $j$ written on another (there are $\frac{n(n+1)}{2}$ domino overall). Amin took this dominos and started to put them in a row so that numbers on the adjacent sides of the dominos are equal. He has put $k$ dominos in this way, got bored and went away. After this Anton came to see this $k$ dominos, and he realized that he can't put all the remaining dominos in this row by the rules. For which smallest value of $k$ is this possible? [i]Oleksii Masalitin[/i]

2017 IFYM, Sozopol, 7

Tags: combinatorics , dominoes , Tiling

We say that a polygon is rectangular when all of its angles are $90^\circ$ or $270^\circ$. Is it true that each rectangular polygon, which sides are with length equal to odd numbers only, [u]can't[/u] be covered with 2x1 domino tiles?

2015 Balkan MO Shortlist, C3

Tags: combinatorics , covering , dominoes , Chessboard

A chessboard $1000 \times 1000$ is covered by dominoes $1 \times 10$ that can be rotated. We don't know which is the cover, but we are looking for it. For this reason, we choose a few $N$ cells of the chessboard, for which we know the position of the dominoes that cover them. Which is the minimum $N$ such that after the choice of $N$ and knowing the dominoed that cover them, we can be sure and for the rest of the cover? (Bulgaria)