MathDB
Coloring of a grid!

Source: India TST 2001 Day 4 problem 3

January 31, 2015
combinatorics unsolvedcombinatorics

Problem Statement

Each vertex of an m×nm\times n grid is colored blue, green or red in such a way that all the boundary vertices are red. We say that a unit square of the grid is properly colored if: (i)(i) all the three colors occur at the vertices of the square, and (ii)(ii) one side of the square has the endpoints of the same color. Show that the number of properly colored squares is even.