Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 4.8 AIME Prove it United States

Problem:

We define a chessboard polygon to be a polygon whose edges are situated along lines of the form x=ax = a and y=by = b, where aa and bb are integers. These lines divide the interior into unit squares, which we call cells.

Let nn and kk be positive integers. Assume that a square can be partitioned into nn congruent chessboard polygons of kk cells each. Prove that this square may also be partitioned into kk congruent chessboard polygons of nn cells each.

Solution

Solution:

Note that nk=s2n k = s^{2} for some ss. By Factor Lemma, pick n=abn = a b, k=cdk = c d, and s=ac=bds = a c = b d. Now we can tile the board with a×ba \times b rectangles!

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