Coloring of a table with red or green rows and columns In a 10 &#x00D7;<!-- × --> 10 ta

Karina Trujillo

Karina Trujillo

Answered question

2022-06-26

Coloring of a table with red or green rows and columns
In a 10 × 10 table, half of the cells are red and half are green. Let's call a row or a column good if all cells in it are the same color. What is the maximal total number of good rows and columns in such a table?
The simple and obvious answer is 10. I've been trying to search for different intersections of the same color, yet 10 is still the biggest number. Can there be 11, for instance?

Answer & Explanation

Leland Ochoa

Leland Ochoa

Beginner2022-06-27Added 25 answers

Step 1
Suppose there are at least 11 good rows and columns. there must be at least 1 good row and at least 1 good column. this row and column must have the same color because they intersect. WLOG say they are red. the red row precludes green columns and the red column precludes green rows, so there cannot be any green rows or columns. suppose there are m red rows and n red columns.
Step 2
10 m + 10 n m n 50
( 10 m ) ( 10 n ) 50
( 10 m ) + ( 10 n ) 2 ( 10 m ) ( 10 n ) 5 2
m + n 20 10 2 < 6
contradiction. so there are at most 10 good rows and columns. the construction is 5 green, 5 red, all parallel to one another.

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