MathDB
n boards of width b, on a floor with width B, B/B is an integer

Source: Norwegian Mathematical Olympiad 2008 - Abel Competition p2a

September 5, 2019
combinatoricscombinatorial geometry

Problem Statement

We wish to lay down boards on a floor with width BB in the direction across the boards. We have nn boards of width bb, and B/bB/b is an integer, and nbBnb \le B. There are enough boards to cover the floor, but the boards may have different lengths. Show that we can cut the boards in such a way that every board length on the floor has at most one join where two boards meet end to end. https://cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/attachments/f/f/24ce8ae05d85fd522da0e18c0bb8017ca3c8e8.png