Problem of the Week

Problem 3 (suggested by Prof. Alexander Borisov), due on Monday, October 7.

Three players are playing a game. They are taking turns placing kings on a 1000×1000 chessboard, so that the newly-placed king is not adjacent (directly or diagonally) to any of the previously placed kings (i.e. the kings are in non-attacking positions). Whoever cannot place a king, loses. Prove that if any two of the players cooperate, they can make the third player lose.

Overview

Every other Monday (starting 08/27/24), we will post a problem to engage our mathematical community in the problem solving activity and to enjoy mathematics outside of the classroom. Students (both undergraduate and graduate) are particularly encouraged to participate as there is no better way to practice math than working on challenging problems. If you have a solution and want to be a part of it, e-mail your solution to Marcin Mazur (mazur@math.binghamton.edu) by the due date. We will post our solutions as well as novel solutions from the participants and record the names of those who've got the most number of solutions throughout each semester.

When you submit your solutions, please provide a detailed reasoning rather than just an answer. Also, please include some short info about yourself for our records.