MathDB
1988 AJHSME #16

Source:

June 21, 2011

Problem Statement

[asy] for(int a=0; a<4; ++a) { draw((a,0)--(a,3)); } for(int b=0; b<4; ++b) { draw((0,b)--(3,b)); }[/asy]
Placing no more than one xx in each small square, what is the greatest number of xx's that can be put on the grid shown without getting three xx's in a row vertically, horizontally, or diagonally?
(A) 2(B) 3(C) 4(D) 5(E) 6 \text{(A)}\ 2\qquad\text{(B)}\ 3\qquad\text{(C)}\ 4\qquad\text{(D)}\ 5\qquad\text{(E)}\ 6