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Regular fault-free rectangles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 September 2016

M. D. Atkinson
Affiliation:
Department of Computing Mathematics, University College, Cardiff
W. F. Lunnon
Affiliation:
Department of Computing Mathematics, University College, Cardiff

Extract

Provided one of the integers m and n is even, it is obvious that an m × n rectangle can be covered with 1/2mn dominoes, each domino covering two unit squares. If some of the dominoes are oriented in each of the two possible ways, it is possible that there may be no continuous straight line of domino edges, either horizontal or vertical, across the rectangle: in other words, each of the (m — 1) + (n — 1) fault lines on the underlying grid is crossed by at least one domino. Such rectangles are called fault-free, and are mentioned by S. Golomb in [1] where the concept is attributed to R. I. Jewett. An example with m = 6, n = 8 is shown in Fig. 1.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Mathematical Association 1980

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