In the center of 2015*2015 grid is placed a common dice with the numbers 1,2,3,4,5,6 written on its sides, so that two numbers on opposite sides add up to 7.
A move by a player consists of 3 steps:
First step: A player is now allowed to rotate the dice, so that any of its numbers shows top.
Second step: The dice is then moved either left or right, which way, that's up to the player's decision, by the number that shows top from the dice.
Third step: The dice is then moved either up or down, which way is also up to the player's decision, by the number that is hidden underneath the cube.
A move that would lead outside the grid is not legal.
How many points on the grid are possible to reach after a finite number of moves?
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Consider the sequence σ 1 of moves ⟨ − 1 , 6 ⟩ , ⟨ − 3 , − 4 ⟩ , ⟨ 5 , − 2 ⟩ . Starting from ( a , b ) , the path created by σ 1 is ( a , b ) , ( a − 1 , b + 6 ) , ( a − 4 , b + 2 ) , ( a + 1 , b ) . In other words, following σ 1 is equivalent to moving one point to the right, and the path does not need much "clearance." If ( a , b ) is at least 6 units from the top of the grid, 4 units from the left side, and 1 unit from the right side, we can move one point to the right using σ 1 . Starting from ( 0 , 0 ) and following σ 1 repeatedly, we will reach all the grid points on the positive x -axis.
Now consider the sequence σ 2 of moves ⟨ − 6 , − 1 ⟩ , ⟨ 4 , − 3 ⟩ , ⟨ 2 , 5 ⟩ . Starting from ( a , b ) , the path created by σ 2 is ( a , b ) , ( a − 6 , b − 1 ) , ( a − 2 , b − 4 ) , ( a , b + 1 ) . If ( a , b ) is at least 6 units from the left side of the grid, 4 units from the bottom, and 1 unit from the top, we can move one point up using σ 2 . Starting from ( a , 0 ) and following σ 2 repeatedly, we will reach all the grid points in the first quadrant with x -coordinate equal to a .
Now we have shown that we can reach any point ( a , 0 ) on the positive x -axis using σ 1 , and from ( a , 0 ) , we can reach any point ( a , b ) in the first quadrant using σ 2 . By symmetry, we can reach any point on the rest of the grid. Therefore, the number of reachable points is 2 0 1 5 2 = 4 0 6 0 2 2 5 .