We are given a 5x5 square grid, divided to 1x1 tiles. Two tiles are called [b]linked[/b] if they lie in the same row or column, and the distance between their centers is 2 or 3. For example, in the picture the gray tiles are the ones linked to the red tile. [img]https://i.imgur.com/JVTQ9wB.png[/img] Sammy wants to mark as many tiles in the grid as possible, such that no two of them are linked. What is the maximal number of tiles he can mark?

A $10 \times 10$ table consists of $100$ unit cells. A [i]block[/i] is a $2 \times 2$ square consisting of $4$ unit cells of the table. A set $C$ of $n$ blocks covers the table (i.e. each cell of the table is covered by some block of $C$ ) but no $n -1$ blocks of $C$ cover the table. Find the largest possible value of $n$.

You have an $n \times n$ grid of empty squares. You place a cross in all the squares, one at a time. When you place a cross in an empty square, you receive $i+j$ points if there were $i$ crosses in the same row and $j$ crosses in the same column before you placed the new cross. Which are the possible total scores you can get?

Let $n \ge 2$ be a positive integer. An $n\times n$ grid of squares has been colored as a chessboard. Let a [i]move[/i] consist of picking a square from the board and then changing the colors to the opposite for all squares that lie in the same row as the chosen square, as well as for all squares that lie in the same column (the chosen square itself is also changed to the opposite color). Find all values of $n$ for which it is possible to make all squares of the grid be the same color in a finite sequence of moves.

Given a 4×4 grid of points, the points at two opposite corners are denoted $A$ and $D$. We need to choose two other points $ B$ and $C$ such that the six pairwise distances of these four points are all distinct. (a) How many such quadruples of points are there? (b) How many such quadruples of points are non-congruent? (c) If each point is assigned a pair of coordinates $(x_i,y_i)$, prove that the sum of the expressions $|x_i-x_j |+|y_i-y_j|$ over all six pairs of points in a quadruple is constant.

One needs to ffll the cells of an $n\times n$ table ($n > 1$) with distinct integers from $1$ to $n^2$ so that every two consecutive integers are placed in cells that share a side, while every two integers with the same remainder if divided by $n$ are placed in distinct rows and distinct columns. For which $n$ is this possible? (Alexandr Gribalko)

Let there be a $n\times n$ board. Write down $0$ or $1$ in all $n^2$ squares. For $1 \le k \le n$, let $A_k$ be the product of all numbers in the $k$th row. How many ways are there to write down the numbers so that $A_1 + A_2 + ... + A_n$ is even?

A subset of $ n\times n$ table is called even if it contains even elements of each row and each column. Find the minimum $ k$ such that each subset of this table with $ k$ elements contains an even subset

Find the greatest constant $\lambda$ such that for any doubly stochastic matrix of order 100, we can pick $150$ entries such that if the other $9850$ entries were replaced by $0$, the sum of entries in each row and each column is at least $\lambda$. Note: A doubly stochastic matrix of order $n$ is a $n\times n$ matrix, all entries are nonnegative reals, and the sum of entries in each row and column is equal to 1.

Let $n$ be an odd natural number. We consider an $n\times n$ grid which is made up of $n^2$ unit squares and $2n(n+1)$ edges. We colour each of these edges either $\color{red} \textit{red}$ or $\color{blue}\textit{blue}$. If there are at most $n^2$ $\color{red} \textit{red}$ edges, then show that there exists a unit square at least three of whose edges are $\color{blue}\textit{blue}$.

Given an integer $n\geq 3$. For each $3\times3$ squares on the grid, call this $3\times3$ square isolated if the center unit square is white and other 8 squares are black, or the center unit square is black and other 8 squares are white. Now suppose one can paint an infinite grid by white or black, so that one can select an $a\times b$ rectangle which contains at least $n^2-n$ isolated $3\times 3$ square. Find the minimum of $a+b$ that such thing can happen. (Note that $a,b$ are positive reals, and selected $a\times b$ rectangle may have sides not parallel to grid line of the infinite grid.)

A square grid is composed of $ n^2\equiv 1\pmod 4 $ unit cells that contained each a locust that jumped the same amount of cells in the direccion of columns or lines, without leaving the grid. Prove that, as a result of this, at least two locusts landed on the same cell. [i]Marius Cavachi[/i]

For which integers $N$ it is possible to write real numbers into the cells of a square of size $N \times N$ so that among the sums of each pair of adjacent cells there are all integers from $1$ to $2(N-1)N$ (each integer once)? Maxim Didin

Consider a $8\times 8$ chessboard where all $64$ unit squares are at the start white. Prove that, if any $12$ of the $64$ unit square get painted black, then we can find $4$ lines and $4$ rows that have all these $12$ unit squares.

In a square board of size 1001 x 1001, we color some $m$ cells in such a way that: i. Of any two cells that share an edge, at least one is colored. ii. Of any 6 consecutive cells in a column or a row, at least 2 consecutive ones are colored. Determine the smallest possible value of $m$.

Let \( f(N) \) denote the maximum number of \( T \)-tetrominoes that can be placed on an \( N \times N \) board such that each \( T \)-tetromino covers at least one cell that is not covered by any other \( T \)-tetromino. Find the smallest real number \( c \) such that \[ f(N) \leq cN^2 \] for all positive integers \( N \).

In each cell of an \(n \times n\) grid, one of the numbers \(0\), \(1,\) or \(2\) must be written. Determine all positive integers \(n\) for which there exists a way to fill the \(n \times n\) grid such that, when calculating the sum of the numbers in each row and each column, the numbers \(1, 2, \ldots, 2n\) are obtained in some order.

A and B play a game on a square board consisting of $n \times n$ white tiles, where $n \ge 2$. A moves first, and the players alternate taking turns. A move consists of picking a square consisting of $2\times 2$ or $3\times 3$ white tiles and colouring all these tiles black. The first player who cannot find any such squares has lost. Show that A can always win the game if A plays the game right.

What is the smallest number of $3$-cell corners needed to be painted in a $6\times 6$ square so that it was impossible to paint more than one corner of it? (The painted corners should not overlap.)

In the figure we see the paths connecting the square of a city (point $P$) with the school (point $S$). In the square there are $k$ pupils starting to go to the school. They have the ability to move only to the right and up. If the pupils are free to choose any allowed path (in order to get to school), determine the minimum value of $k$ so that in any case at least two pupils follow the same path. [img]https://cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/attachments/e/2/b5d6c6db5942cb706428cb63af3ca15590727f.png[/img]

Determine all integer $n$ such that a surface of an $n \times n \times n$ grid cube can be pasted in one layer by paper $1 \times 2$ rectangles so that each rectangle has exactly five neighbors (by a line segment). (A.Shapovalov)

We number the columns of an $n\times n$-board from $1$ to $n$. In each cell, we place a number. This is done in such a way that each row precisely contains the numbers $1$ to $n$ (in some order), and also each column contains the numbers $1$ to $n$ (in some order). Next, each cell that contains a number greater than the cell's column number, is coloured grey. In the figure below you can see an example for the case $n = 3$. [asy] unitsize(0.6 cm); int i; fill((0,0)--(1,0)--(1,1)--(0,1)--cycle, gray(0.8)); fill(shift((1,0))*((0,0)--(1,0)--(1,1)--(0,1)--cycle), gray(0.8)); fill(shift((0,2))*((0,0)--(1,0)--(1,1)--(0,1)--cycle), gray(0.8)); for (i = 0; i <= 3; ++i) { draw((0,i)--(3,i)); draw((i,0)--(i,3)); } label("$1$", (0.5,3.5)); label("$2$", (1.5,3.5)); label("$3$", (2.5,3.5)); label("$3$", (0.5,2.5)); label("$1$", (1.5,2.5)); label("$2$", (2.5,2.5)); label("$1$", (0.5,1.5)); label("$2$", (1.5,1.5)); label("$3$", (2.5,1.5)); label("$2$", (0.5,0.5)); label("$3$", (1.5,0.5)); label("$1$", (2.5,0.5)); [/asy] (a) Suppose that $n = 5$. Can the numbers be placed in such a way that each row contains the same number of grey cells? (b) Suppose that $n = 10$. Can the numbers be placed in such a way that each row contains the same number of grey cells?

A square of side $5$ is divided into $25$ unit squares. Let $A$ be the set of the $16$ interior points of the initial square which are vertices of the unit squares. What is the largest number of points of $A$ no three of which form an isosceles right triangle?

Let $n$ be an odd natural number. We consider an $n\times n$ grid which is made up of $n^2$ unit squares and $2n(n+1)$ edges. We colour each of these edges either $\color{red} \textit{red}$ or $\color{blue}\textit{blue}$. If there are at most $n^2$ $\color{red} \textit{red}$ edges, then show that there exists a unit square at least three of whose edges are $\color{blue}\textit{blue}$.

On a $(4n + 2)\times (4n + 2)$ square grid, a turtle can move between squares sharing a side.The turtle begins in a corner square of the grid and enters each square exactly once, ending in the square where she started. In terms of $n$, what is the largest positive integer $k$ such that there must be a row or column that the turtle has entered at least $k$ distinct times?