Problem:
Let be an integer such that and . Prove that if an rectangle is -tileable, then or .
Problem:
Let be an integer such that and . Prove that if an rectangle is -tileable, then or .
Solution:
We prove the following lemma.
Lemma. Let be a positive integer such that and . Then an rectangle is -tileable if and only if an rectangle is -tileable for and . (Here, denotes the greatest integer less than or equal to , while denotes the least integer greater than or equal to .)
Proof. Number the rows and columns in order. For each pair , consider the set of squares in a row congruent to modulo and in a column congruent to modulo . If one square of a type domino lies in this set, then so does the other. We can therefore partition the rectangle into these sets and then tile these sets instead. Each such set is a rectangular array of dimensions , with and , and a type domino on the original rectangle is a type domino on this new array. Since all possible pairs occur, the result follows.
Suppose and . Then at least one of and is odd, so we can choose odd. Likewise we can choose odd. But then an rectangle has odd area and so cannot be tileable, implying that the rectangle is not tileable.