2022 AMC 10A Problems/Problem 9

A rectangle is partitioned into 5 regions as shown. Each region is to be painted a solid color - red, orange, yellow, blue, or green - so that regions that touch are painted different colors, and colors can be used more than once. How many different colorings are possible? $[asy] size(5.5cm); draw((0,0)--(0,2)--(2,2)--(2,0)--cycle); draw((2,0)--(8,0)--(8,2)--(2,2)--cycle); draw((8,0)--(12,0)--(12,2)--(8,2)--cycle); draw((0,2)--(6,2)--(6,4)--(0,4)--cycle); draw((6,2)--(12,2)--(12,4)--(6,4)--cycle); [/asy]$

$\textbf{(A) }120\qquad\textbf{(B) }270\qquad\textbf{(C) }360\qquad\textbf{(D) }540\qquad\textbf{(E) }720$

Solution 1

The top left rectangle can be $5$ possible colors. Then the bottom left region can only be $4$ possible colors, and the bottom middle can only be $3$ colors since it is next to the top left and bottom left. Similarly, we have $3$ choices for the top right and $3$ choices for the bottom right, which gives us a total of $5\cdot4\cdot3\cdot3\cdot3=\boxed{540}$ . ~Txu

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2022 AMC 10A Problems/Problem 9

Solution 1