Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications, Seventh Edition

Published by McGraw-Hill Education
ISBN 10: 0073383090
ISBN 13: 978-0-07338-309-5

Chapter 1 - Section 1.8 - Proof Methods and Strategy - Exercises - Page 109: 44

Answer

You can not use a domino to tile a $5\times 5$ checkerboard with three corners removed the detailed proof is given below

Work Step by Step

A $5\times5 $ checkerboard has alternately black and white squares. an image of a $5\times5 $ checkerboard is given below. We note that a $5\times5 $ checkerboard contains $13$ black squares and $12$ white squares. We remove three corners. We note that all the corners are black tiles, thus there are then 10 black squares and $12$ white squares left. Each Domino tile will have to cover two adjacent squares, thus each Domino covers exactly one black square and one white square. However, there are not an equal amount of black and white squares left $(10 \neq 12)$ Hence it is not possible to use Dominoes to tile a $5 x 5$ checkerboard with three corners removed. here is the picture of the domino of $5\times5 $
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