Impossible Dominos' Arrangement on Chessboard


What was the challenge given?

Initial mathematical calculations might suggest that the task is pretty simple. If 2 square are cut off from 64 squares then 62 squares will be left which are enough for 31 dominos (each covering 2 squares).

But, that is not the case. Since, 2 diagonally opposite squares are removed, they has to be either black or white like shown below with shaded regions.

Impossible Dominos' Arrangement on Chessboard

Impossible Dominos' Arrangement on Chessboard

We need 1 black and 1 White square for placement of 1 domino on the chessboard.That is 31 Black and 31 White squares are needed to give cover for 31 dominos.

 In the above 2 cases, there are either 32 Black and 30 White or 30 Black and 32 White squares are available.

This makes the task of placing 31 dominos on the chessboard (whose 2 diagonally opposite squares are removed) impossible! 

Comments

Follow me on Blogarama