2012 AMC 10A Problems/Problem 14

Problem

Chubby makes nonstandard checkerboards that have $31$ squares on each side. The checkerboards have a black square in every corner and alternate red and black squares along every row and column. How many black squares are there on such a checkerboard?

$\textbf{(A)}\ 480 \qquad\textbf{(B)}\ 481 \qquad\textbf{(C)}\ 482 \qquad\textbf{(D)}\ 483 \qquad\textbf{(E)}\ 484$

Solution 1

There are 15 rows with 15 black tiles, and 16 rows with 16 black tiles, so the answer is $15^2+16^2 =225+256= \boxed{\textbf{(B)}\ 481}$

Note: When solving $16^2$ + $15^2$ , you only need to calculate the units digit.

Solution 2

We build the $31 \times 31$ checkerboard starting with a board of $30 \times 30$ that is exactly half black. There are $15 \cdot 30$ black tiles in this region.

Add to this $30 \times 30$ checkerboard a $1 \times 30$ strip on the bottom that has $15$ black tiles.

Add to this $31 \times 30$ checkerboard a $31 \times 1$ strip on the right that has $15 + 1$ black tiles.

In total, there are $15 \cdot 30 + 15 + 15 + 1 = 481$ tiles, giving an answer of $\boxed{\textbf{(B)}\ 481}$

Solution 3

For every $2 \times 31$ strip, there are 31 black tiles and 31 white tiles. There are 15 $2 \times 31$ strips on checkerboar.

The last $1 \times 31$ strip starts with black tile, so it has 16 black tiles.

In total, there are $31\times 15+16=481$ black tiles.

~Bran_Qin

2012 AMC 10A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 13	Followed by Problem 15
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25
All AMC 10 Problems and Solutions

The problems on this page are copyrighted by the Mathematical Association of America's American Mathematics Competitions.

Page

Toolbox

Search

2012 AMC 10A Problems/Problem 14

Contents

Problem

Solution 1

Solution 2

Solution 3

See Also