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Tiling rectangular rooms with 2×2 and 4×1.

Source: Bundeswettbewerb Mathematik 1973, round 2, problem 3

May 1, 2007
modular arithmeticcombinatorics proposedcombinatorics

Problem Statement

For covering the floor of a rectangular room rectangular tiles of sizes 2×22 \times 2 and 4×14 \times 1 were used. Show that it's not possible to cover the floor if there is one plate less of one type and one more of the other type.