Found problems: 12
2011 Dutch IMO TST, 2
We consider tilings of a rectangular $m \times n$-board with $1\times2$-tiles. The tiles can be placed either horizontally, or vertically, but they aren't allowed to overlap and to be placed partially outside of the board. All squares on theboard must be covered by a tile.
(a) Prove that for every tiling of a $4 \times 2010$-board with $1\times2$-tiles there is a straight line cutting the board into two pieces such that every tile completely lies within one of the pieces.
(b) Prove that there exists a tiling of a $5 \times 2010$-board with $1\times 2$-tiles such that there is no straight line cutting the board into two pieces such that every tile completely lies within one of the pieces.
2018 Belarusian National Olympiad, 11.4
A checkered polygon $A$ is drawn on the checkered plane. We call a cell of $A$ [i]internal[/i] if all $8$ of its adjacent cells belong to $A$. All other (non-internal) cells of $A$ we call [i]boundary[/i]. It is known that $1)$ each boundary cell has exactly two common sides with no boundary cells; and 2) the union of all boundary cells can be divided into isosceles trapezoid of area $2$ with vertices at the grid nodes (and acute angles of the trapezoids are equal $45^\circ$).
Prove that the area of the polygon $A$ is congruent to $1$ modulo $4$.
2016 Danube Mathematical Olympiad, 4
A unit square is removed from the corner of an $n\times n$ grid where $n \geq 2$. Prove that the remainder can be covered by copies of the "L-shapes" consisting of $3$ or $5$ unit square, as depicted in the figure below. Every square must be covered once and the L-shapes must not go over the bounds of the grid.
[asy]
import geometry;
draw((-1.5,0)--(-3.5,0)--(-3.5,2)--(-2.5,2)--(-2.5,1)--(-1.5,1)--cycle);
draw((-3.5,1)--(-2.5,1)--(-2.5,0));
draw((0.5,0)--(0.5,3)--(1.5,3)--(1.5,1)--(3.5,1)--(3.5,0)--cycle);
draw((1.5,0)--(1.5,1));
draw((2.5,0)--(2.5,1));
draw((0.5,1)--(1.5,1));
draw((0.5,2)--(1.5,2));
[/asy][i]Estonian Olympiad, 2009[/i]
2020 Malaysia IMONST 2, 1
Given a trapezium with two parallel sides of lengths $m$ and $n$, where $m$, $n$ are integers, prove that it is
possible to divide the trapezium into several congruent triangles.
2019 Canada National Olympiad, 3
You have a $2m$ by $2n$ grid of squares coloured in the same way as a standard checkerboard. Find the total number of ways to place $mn$ counters on white squares so that each square contains at most one counter and no two counters are in diagonally adjacent white squares.
KoMaL A Problems 2018/2019, A. 749
Given are two polyominos, the first one is an L-shape consisting of three squares, the other one contains at least two squares. Prove that if $n$ and $m$ are coprime then at most one of the $n\times n$ and $m\times m$ boards can be tiled by translated copies of the two polyominos.
[i]Proposed by: András Imolay, Dávid Matolcsi, Ádám Schweitzer and Kristóf Szabó, Budapest[/i]
1987 Spain Mathematical Olympiad, 3
A given triangle is divided into $n$ triangles in such a way that any line segment which is a side of a tiling triangle is either a side of another tiling triangle or a side of the given triangle. Let $s$ be the total number of sides and $v$ be the total number of vertices of the tiling triangles (counted without multiplicity).
(a) Show that if $n$ is odd then such divisions are possible, but each of them has the same number $v$ of vertices and the same number $s$ of sides. Express $v$ and $s$ as functions of $n$.
(b) Show that, for $n$ even, no such tiling is possible
2017 Romanian Master of Mathematics Shortlist, C2
Fix an integer $n \ge 2$ and let $A$ be an $n\times n$ array with $n$ cells cut out so that exactly one cell is removed out of every row and every column. A [i]stick [/i] is a $1\times k$ or $k\times 1$ subarray of $A$, where $k$ is a suitable positive integer.
(a) Determine the minimal number of [i]sticks [/i] $A$ can be dissected into.
(b) Show that the number of ways to dissect $A$ into a minimal number of [i]sticks [/i] does not exceed $100^n$.
proposed by Palmer Mebane and Nikolai Beluhov
[hide=a few comments]a variation of part a, was [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c6h1389637p7743073]problem 5[/url]
a variation of part b, was posted [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c6h1389663p7743264]here[/url]
this post was made in order to complete the post collection of RMM Shortlist 2017[/hide]
2011 Dutch IMO TST, 2
We consider tilings of a rectangular $m \times n$-board with $1\times2$-tiles. The tiles can be placed either horizontally, or vertically, but they aren't allowed to overlap and to be placed partially outside of the board. All squares on theboard must be covered by a tile.
(a) Prove that for every tiling of a $4 \times 2010$-board with $1\times2$-tiles there is a straight line cutting the board into two pieces such that every tile completely lies within one of the pieces.
(b) Prove that there exists a tiling of a $5 \times 2010$-board with $1\times 2$-tiles such that there is no straight line cutting the board into two pieces such that every tile completely lies within one of the pieces.
2004 IMO, 3
Define a "hook" to be a figure made up of six unit squares as shown below in the picture, or any of the figures obtained by applying rotations and reflections to this figure.
[asy]
unitsize(0.5 cm);
draw((0,0)--(1,0));
draw((0,1)--(1,1));
draw((2,1)--(3,1));
draw((0,2)--(3,2));
draw((0,3)--(3,3));
draw((0,0)--(0,3));
draw((1,0)--(1,3));
draw((2,1)--(2,3));
draw((3,1)--(3,3));
[/asy]
Determine all $ m\times n$ rectangles that can be covered without gaps and without overlaps with hooks such that
- the rectangle is covered without gaps and without overlaps
- no part of a hook covers area outside the rectangle.
2004 IMO Shortlist, 7
Define a "hook" to be a figure made up of six unit squares as shown below in the picture, or any of the figures obtained by applying rotations and reflections to this figure.
[asy]
unitsize(0.5 cm);
draw((0,0)--(1,0));
draw((0,1)--(1,1));
draw((2,1)--(3,1));
draw((0,2)--(3,2));
draw((0,3)--(3,3));
draw((0,0)--(0,3));
draw((1,0)--(1,3));
draw((2,1)--(2,3));
draw((3,1)--(3,3));
[/asy]
Determine all $ m\times n$ rectangles that can be covered without gaps and without overlaps with hooks such that
- the rectangle is covered without gaps and without overlaps
- no part of a hook covers area outside the rectangle.
2006 IMO Shortlist, 6
A holey triangle is an upward equilateral triangle of side length $n$ with $n$ upward unit triangular holes cut out. A diamond is a $60^\circ-120^\circ$ unit rhombus.
Prove that a holey triangle $T$ can be tiled with diamonds if and only if the following condition holds: Every upward equilateral triangle of side length $k$ in $T$ contains at most $k$ holes, for $1\leq k\leq n$.
[i]Proposed by Federico Ardila, Colombia [/i]