1999 IMO Problems/Problem 3

Problem

Consider an $n \times n$ square board, where $n$ is a fixed even positive integer. The board is divided into $n^{2}$ units squares. We say that two different squares on the board are adjacent if they have a common side.

$N$ unit squares on the board are marked in such a way that every square (marked or unmarked) on the board is adjacent to at least one marked square.

Determine the smallest possible value of $N$.


Solution

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See Also

1999 IMO (Problems) • Resources
Preceded by
Problem 2
1 2 3 4 5 6 Followed by
Problem 4
All IMO Problems and Solutions