Are we supposed to count the rectangles?

The following diagram shows a grid of 36 36 cells. Find the number of rectangles pictured in the diagram that contain at least three cells of the grid.

145 245 545 445 345

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2 solutions

Brian Moehring
Jul 26, 2018

For 1 a , b 6 1\leq a,b \leq 6 , the number of ( 7 a ) × ( 7 b ) (7-a)\times(7-b) rectangles is a b ab . Therefore, the total number of rectangles is a = 1 6 b = 1 6 a b = ( a = 1 6 a ) ( b = 1 6 b ) = ( 21 ) ( 21 ) = 441 \sum_{a=1}^6\sum_{b=1}^6 ab = \left(\sum_{a=1}^6a\right)\left(\sum_{b=1}^6b\right) = (21)(21) = 441

From this, we subtract the number of 1 × 1 1\times 1 , 2 × 1 2\times 1 and 1 × 2 1\times 2 rectangles, to give 441 ( 6 ) ( 6 ) ( 5 ) ( 6 ) ( 6 ) ( 5 ) = 345 441 - (6)(6) - (5)(6) - (6)(5) = \boxed{345}

Romain Bouchard
Jul 27, 2018

Each pair of points not on the same row/column defines a unique rectangle (as they form one of its diagonal.)

So for each ( 6 + 1 ) ( 6 + 1 ) = 49 (6+1)(6+1)=49 points of the grids, we have 49 × ( 49 13 ) 49 \times (49-13) rectangles (as there are 6 + 6 + 1 = 13 6+6+1 = 13 points on the same row and columnas a given point.)

Note that a same rectangle A B C D ABCD will be obtained from 4 4 different pairs of points ( ( A , C ) , ( C , A ) , ( B , D ) , ( D , B ) (A,C),(C,A),(B,D),(D,B) ), for a total of 49 ( 49 13 ) 4 \frac{49(49-13)}{4} rectangles in the grid.

There are 6 × 6 = 36 6 \times 6 = 36 1 1 -cell rectangles and 2 × 5 × 6 = 60 2 \times 5 \times 6 = 60 2 2 -cells rectangles that we need to substract hence the answer is 49 ( 49 13 ) 4 36 60 = 345 \frac{49(49-13)}{4}-36-60 = \boxed{345}

Nice proof! I always like seeing other ways to count, because together we've basically given a combinatorial proof that a = 1 m b = 1 n a b = ( m + 1 ) ( n + 1 ) ( ( m + 1 ) ( n + 1 ) m n 1 ) 4 \sum_{a=1}^m\sum_{b=1}^n ab = \frac{(m+1)(n+1)\big((m+1)(n+1)-m-n-1\big)}{4} (To clarify, the method for my half--the sum--is counting how many squares can be the top left square of an ( m + 1 a ) × ( n + 1 b ) (m+1-a)\times(n+1-b) rectangle)

Brian Moehring - 2 years, 10 months ago

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