MathDB
2020 PUMaC Team 1

Source:

January 1, 2022
combinatorics

Problem Statement

Consider a 20212021-by-20212021 board of unit squares. For some integer kk, we say the board is tiled by kk-by-kk squares if it is completely covered by (possibly overlapping) kk-by-kk squares with their corners on the corners of the unit squares. What is the largest integer k such that the minimum number of kk-by-kk squares needed to tile the 20212021-by-20212021 board is exactly equal to 100100?