2018 AMC 10A Problems/Problem 20

The following problem is from both the 2018 AMC 10A #20 and 2018 AMC 12A #15, so both problems redirect to this page.

Problem

A scanning code consists of a $7 \times 7$ grid of squares, with some of its squares colored black and the rest colored white. There must be at least one square of each color in this grid of $49$ squares. A scanning code is called $\textit{symmetric}$ if its look does not change when the entire square is rotated by a multiple of $90 ^{\circ}$ counterclockwise around its center, nor when it is reflected across a line joining opposite corners or a line joining midpoints of opposite sides. What is the total number of possible symmetric scanning codes?

$\textbf{(A)} \text{ 510} \qquad \textbf{(B)} \text{ 1022} \qquad \textbf{(C)} \text{ 8190} \qquad \textbf{(D)} \text{ 8192} \qquad \textbf{(E)} \text{ 65,534}$

Solution 1

Draw a $7 \times 7$ square.

$\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|} \hline K & J & H & G & H & J & K \\ \hline J & F & E & D & E & F & J \\ \hline H & E & C & B & C & E & H \\ \hline G & D & B & A & B & D & G \\ \hline H & E & C & B & C & E & H \\ \hline J & F & E & D & E & F & J \\ \hline K & J & H & G & H & J & K \\ \hline \end{tabular}$

Start from the center and label all protruding cells symmetrically. (Note that "I" is left out of this labelling, so there are only 10 labels, not 11, as ending in K would suggest!)

More specifically, since there are $4$ given lines of symmetry ( $2$ diagonals, $1$ vertical, $1$ horizontal) and they split the plot into $8$ equivalent sections, we can take just one-eighth and study it in particular. Each of these sections has $10$ distinct sub-squares, whether partially or in full. So since each can be colored either white or black, we choose $2^{10}=1024$ but then subtract the $2$ cases where all are white or all are black. That leaves us with $\fbox{\textbf{(B)} \text{ 1022}}$ .

There are only ten squares we get to actually choose, and two independent choices for each, for a total of $2^{10} = 1024$ codes. Two codes must be subtracted (due to the rule that there must be at least one square of each color) for an answer of $\fbox{\textbf{(B) }1022}$ .

Note that this problem is very similar to the 1996 AIME Problem 7 https://artofproblemsolving.com/wiki/index.php/1996_AIME_Problems/Problem_7.

Solution 2

$[asy] size(100pt); draw((1,0)--(8,0),linewidth(0.5)); draw((1,2)--(6,2),linewidth(0.5)); draw((1,4)--(4,4),linewidth(0.5)); draw((1,6)--(2,6),linewidth(0.5)); draw((2,6)--(2,0),linewidth(0.5)); draw((4,4)--(4,0),linewidth(0.5)); draw((6,2)--(6,0),linewidth(0.5)); draw((1,0)--(1,7),dashed+linewidth(0.5)); draw((1,7)--(8,0),dashed+linewidth(0.5)); [/asy]$

Imagine folding the scanning code along its lines of symmetry. There will be $10$ regions which you have control over coloring. Since we must subtract off $2$ cases for the all-black and all-white cases, the answer is $2^{10}-2=\boxed{\textbf{(B) } 1022.}$

Solution 3

$\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|} \hline T & T & T & X & T & T & T \\ \hline T & T & T & Y& T & T & T \\ \hline T & T & T & Z & T & T & T \\ \hline X & Y & Z & W & Z & Y & X \\ \hline T & T & T & Z & T & T & T \\ \hline T & T & T & Y & T & T & T \\ \hline T & T & T & X & T & T & T \\ \hline \end{tabular}$

There are $3 \times 3$ squares in the corners of this $7 \times 7$ square, and there is a horizontal and vertical stripe through the middle. Because we need to have symmetry when the diagonals and midpoints of the large square is connected, we can create a table like this: (Different letters represent different color choices between black and white)

$\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|} \hline A & B & C \\ \hline B & D & E \\ \hline C & E & F \\ \hline \end{tabular}$ (Note that coloring one $3 \times 3$ square will also determine the colorings of the other $3$ because the large $7 \times 7$ square must look the same when it is rotated by $90^\circ$ )

There are $6$ different letters and $2$ choices of color (black and white) for each letter, so there are $2^6=64$ colorings of a proper $3 \times 3$ square. Now, all that's left are the horizontal and vertical stripes. Using similar logic, we can see that there are $4$ different letters, so there are $2^4=16$ different colorings. Multiplying them together gives $16 \times 64 = 1024$ . Going back to the question, we see that "there must be at least one square of each color in this grid of $49$ squares." We must then eliminate $2$ options: an all-black grid and an all-white grid. $1024-2= \boxed{\textbf{(B)} 1022} \\ \phantom{}$ -hansenhe

Video Solution

https://youtu.be/M22S82Am2zM

~IceMatrix

2018 AMC 10A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 19	Followed by Problem 21
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All AMC 10 Problems and Solutions

2018 AMC 12A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 14	Followed by Problem 16
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 12 Problems and Solutions

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