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Combinatorics Difficulty 6.1 National olympiad Find the answer

The workers laid a floor of size n×nn\times n (10<n<2010 <n <20) with two types of tiles: 2×22 \times 2 and 5×15\times 1. It turned out that they were able to completely lay the floor so that the same number of tiles of each type was used. For which nn could this happen? (You can’t cut tiles and also put them on top of each other.)

A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.

Solution

To solve this problem, we aim to find all integer values of n n (where 10<n<20 10 < n < 20 ) for which an n×n n \times n floor can be completely covered using the same number of 2×2 2 \times 2 and 5×1 5 \times 1 tiles. We cannot cut the tiles and they should not overlap.

First, we calculate the total area of the floor, which is n×n n \times n .

### Step 1: Calculating Areas

The area covered by a single 2×2 2 \times 2 tile is:
4(square units) 4 \quad \text{(square units)}

The area covered by a single 5×1 5 \times 1 tile is:
5(square units) 5 \quad \text{(square units)}

### Step 2: Setting up Equations

Let x x be the number of 2×2 2 \times 2 tiles and y y be the number of 5×1 5 \times 1 tiles. According to the problem, x=y x = y .

The total area covered by the tiles should equal the area of the floor:
4x+5y=n2 4x + 5y = n^2
Since x=y x = y , we substitute to get:
4x+5x=9x=n2 4x + 5x = 9x = n^2
Thus,
x=n29 x = \frac{n^2}{9}

For x x to be an integer, n2 n^2 must be divisible by 9. This means that n n must be a multiple of 3.

### Step 3: Identifying Values of n n

We are given 10<n<20 10 < n < 20 . Within this range, the multiples of 3 are:
12,15,18 12, 15, 18

We will verify that each value of n n gives x x as an integer:

- For n=12 n = 12 :
x=1229=1449=16 x = \frac{12^2}{9} = \frac{144}{9} = 16

- For n=15 n = 15 :
x=1529=2259=25 x = \frac{15^2}{9} = \frac{225}{9} = 25

- For n=18 n = 18 :
x=1829=3249=36 x = \frac{18^2}{9} = \frac{324}{9} = 36

In each case, x x is an integer, confirming that the floor can be completely covered with equal numbers of 2×2 2 \times 2 and 5×1 5 \times 1 tiles.

### Final Answer

Therefore, the possible values of n n for which the floor can be laid are:
12,15,18 \boxed{12, 15, 18}

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Source: Omni-MATH, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.