Some cells of a checkered plane are marked so that figure formed by marked cells satisfies the following condition: any cell of the figure has exactly two adjacent cells of ; and the figure can be divided into isosceles trapezoids of area with vertices at the grid nodes (and acute angles of trapezoids are equal to ) . Prove that the number of marked cells is divisible by .
Solution
1. Understanding the Problem:
We are given a figure formed by marked cells on a checkered plane. The figure satisfies two conditions:
- Any cell of the figure has exactly two adjacent cells of .
- The figure can be divided into isosceles trapezoids of area with vertices at the grid nodes, and the acute angles of the trapezoids are .
2. Analyzing the Isosceles Trapezoids:
Each isosceles trapezoid has an area of . Given that the acute angles are , the trapezoids are right-angled isosceles trapezoids. The height of each trapezoid is unit, and the bases are unit and units respectively.
3. Midlines of Trapezoids:
Consider the midlines of each trapezoid. The midline of a trapezoid with bases and units is units. However, for simplicity, we can scale down the problem such that each midline is unit.
4. Properties of the Polygon Formed by Midlines:
- Every side of the polygon is either vertical or horizontal and has an integer length.
- The sides alternate between vertical and horizontal.
- If a side has an even length, the adjacent sides go in opposite directions (neighboring angles sum to ). If a side has an odd length, the adjacent sides go in the same direction.
5. Proving the Perimeter is Divisible by 4:
We need to show that the perimeter of the polygon formed by the midlines is divisible by .
6. Carving Out Squares:
- If there are two adjacent sides with lengths greater than , we can carve out or attach a square to decrease the sum of the squares of all sides while preserving the perimeter.
- Eventually, we arrive at a polygon where out of any two adjacent sides, one has a length .
7. Handling Sides of Length 1:
- If there are two adjacent sides of length , the polygon is a square with a perimeter of .
- If there is a side of length , we can cut out a square from the side of length , preserving the perimeter modulo .
8. Final Case:
- If all side lengths are even, we can scale down by , and any lattice polygon has an even perimeter.
- If there is an odd side, we keep carving out squares until the odd side has only a length part left. Then, we use the previous operation on sides of length to strictly decrease the perimeter.
9. Conclusion:
- Eventually, we must arrive at a square, and we have preserved the perimeter modulo with each operation.
- Therefore, the number of marked cells is divisible by .