This article is written by students.

It may include omissions and imperfections,

as far as possible, reported by our reviewers in the editorial notes.

Tiling design
[Year 2018– 2019]

SURNAMES AND FIRST NAMES OF STUDENTS, GRADES: Tudor CHIRILĂ, Ștefania GALL,
Lucia-Maria LEFTER, Radu MOCANU, Ana-Estera OANȚĂ, George-Ioan STOICA, Medeea-Maria
ZAHARIA, students in 9th grade.

SCHOOL: Colegiul Naţional Costache Negruzzi, Iaşi

TEACHER: Adrian Zanoschi

RESEARCHER: Iulian Stoleriu, Faculty of Mathematics, “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University Iași.

1. PRESENTATION OF THE RESEARCH TOPIC

A tiling design is a way of arranging various plane shapes (tiles) so that they completely cover a given
area without overlapping and with no gaps. Despite their playful appearance, tiling problems have
relevance to architecture and decorative arts, computer graphics, but also to Statistical Mechanics, where
tilings can be used as models for molecule arrangements on a lattice. For example, if one considers a
system in which a lattice is covered by monomers (basically a single molecule, modelled by 1 1
squares), dimers (a bond of two structurally similar monomers, modelled by dominos), trimers (a
combination of three monomers, modelled by trominos) etc, then the thermodynamical properties of the
system can be derived from the number of arrangements that can be found at its steady states (states with
zero energy).

Our work focuses on counting the number of different tiling designs that can be obtained on a 2  10 or a
3  10 lattice, using three types of tiles: 1x1 squares, dominos and L-shaped trominos. To this end, we
have derived appropriate reccurence relations, based on which we were able to find the number of all
possible tiling designs. For all items in the research proposal, we have provided detailed combinatorial
solutions, with suggestive graphical representations. Similar work can be done for more general lattices,
such as chessboards or non-rectangular shaped lattices.

2. BRIEF PRESENTATION OF THE CONJECTURES AND RESULTS OBTAINED

A 2  10 rectangular wall is going to be covered with tiles.

We have at our disposal three types of tiles, as shown in the figure below.
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The tiles are unlimited and can be rotated in any way before being assembled.

a) In how many ways can we cover the wall only with domino tiles?
b) In how many ways can we cover the wall if the available tiles are of two types: type 1 1 and
type 2 1 .
c) What happens if we have all three types of tile available as drawn above?
d) In how many ways can we cover a 3  10 rectangular wall only with domino tiles?

THE SOLUTION

a) Let us solve the problem from a) in the 2  n case (2 lines and n columns). Let us consider an as the
number of ways in which we can completely cover, without overlapping, a 2  n wall with tiles 1  2 .

We consider a0  1 . Because a 2  1 wall can be covered in only one way with a piece of tile 1  2
vertically placed as in the figure below, it follows that a1  1 .

For a 2  2 wall we have two possibilities, two 1×2 tiles, horizontally placed one above the other and
two tiles 1  2 , vertically placed:

So, a2  2 .
Let`s see now how can a 2  n, n  3 , wall be covered.
I. If we complete the first column with a 1  2 vertical tile, then the rest of the wall can be covered in
an 1 ways.

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II. If we cover the first two columns with two 1  2 tiles horizontally arranged, one under the other, then
the rest of the wall will be covered in an 2 ways.

Because these are the only possibilities to begin the covering, it results that:

an  an 1  an2 , for any natural number n, n  3 .

We observe that the formula is also correct for n  2 , with the convention that a0  1 .
It results that: a2  a1  a0  2 , a3  a2  a1  3 , a4  a3  a2  5 , …, a10  a9  a8  98 .
In conclusion, the number of possibilities in which we can cover a 2  10 wall with 1  2 tiles is
a10  89.

Observation. The formulas:

a0  a1  1

 an  a n 1  an 2
show that (an ) n0 is, in fact, the well-known Fibonacci sequence. It is known that:
1  1  5   1  5  
n n

an 1  Fn       , for any natural number n  1.

5  2   2  
 

b) Solution 1.

Let us consider bn be the number of coverings of a 2  n wall with square 11 tiles or 1 2 dominoes.
We consider b0  1. We observe that:
b1  2

b2  7

b3  22

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To find the values of bn , for n  3 , we will use the next result.

Theorem 1. For every n  3, we have:

bn  3bn 1  bn  2  bn 3 .

Proof.
There are bn 1 coverings of a 2  n wall which finish with two 1  1 square tiles in the n column:
th

There are bn 1 coverings which finish with a 1  2 domino tile arranged vertically in the n column:
th

There are bn 2 coverings which finish with two 1  1 square tiles arranged on the upper row and a
horizontal 1  2 domino tile on the lower row, in the (n  1) and n column:
th th

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The remaining coverings of a 2  n wall can finish in the following ways:

Let us denote the above coverings with   . We will show that the number of   coverings is bn 1  bn 3 .
A covering of 2  (n  1) can be finished in the following ways:

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Each of the last three coverings of a 2  (n  1) wall can be transform, uniquely, in a covering of a 2  n
wall of   form. So, the number of coverings of the   form is bn 1  bn 3 .


Using Theorem 1, we get b0  1 , b1  2 , b2  7 , b3  3b2  b1  b0  21  2  1  22 (we have also

obtained this results by direct counting), b4  3b3  b2  b1  66  7  2  71 , b5  3b4  b3  b2  213  22
7  228 , …, b10  3b9  b8  b7  78243 .
In conclusion, the number of possibilities in which we can cover a 2  10 wall with 1  2 domino
tiles and 1 1 square tiles is b10  78 243.

Solution 2.

 Let xn be the number of coverings of a 2  n wall ended in this way:

or

 Let yn be the number of coverings of a 2  n wall ended in this way:

 Let zn be the number of coverings of a 2  n wall ended in this way:

or

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So, we have:
 bn  xn  yn  zn , for any n  1
 x  2b , for any n  2
 n
 1 
n 1

 ny  bn  2 , for any n  3
 zn  2bn 2  zn 1 , for any n  3
.

Using these formulas, we can find the value of b10 :

x1  2, y1  0, z1  0  b1  2  0  0  2
x2  2  2  4, y2  1, z2  2  b2  4  1  2  7
x3  2  7  14, y3  2, z3  2  2  2  6  b3  14  2  6  22
x4  2  22  44, y4  7, z4  2  7  6  20  b4  44  7  20  71
x5  2  71  142, y5  22, z5  2  22  20  64  b5  228
x6  2  228  456, y6  71, z6  2  71  64  206  b6  733
x7  2  733  1466, y7  228, z7  2  228  206  662  b7  2356
x8  2  2 356  4 712, y8  733, z8  2  733  662  2128  b8  7573
x9  2  7573  15146, y9  2 356, z9  2  2 356  2128  6840  b9  24 342
x10  2  24 342  48684, y10  7573, z10  2  7573  6840  21986  b10  78243

In this way, to find b10 we need to compute all the values of xn , yn , zn , for n  1 to n  10 . It is natural
to wonder if it is not possible to eliminate xn , yn , zn , and find a recurrence formula for the sequences
 bn  n1 . We will show that this is possible. From  1 it follows that
bn  xn  yn  zn  2bn 1  3bn 2  zn 1 , for any n  3 ,
and therefore
bn 1  2bn  3bn 1  zn , for any n  2 .
By subtracting the last two equations we get
bn 1  bn  2bn  bn 1  3bn2  ( zn  zn 1 )  2bn  bn 1  3bn 2  2bn 2 , for any n  3 ,
thus
bn 1  3bn  bn 1  bn 2 , for any n  3 ,
or
bn  3bn 1  bn 2  bn 3 , for any n  4 ,
which is the formula of Theorem 1.

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c
c) Let n be the number of ways we can tile a 2  n wall with the following shapes:

Let xn be the number of coverings that can end the following ways:

or

.
Let yn be the number of coverings that can end the following ways:

or

Let zn be the number of coverings whose ends don’t fit anywhere above:

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,
but aren’t counted in yn .

Clearly, we have:
 cn  xn  yn  zn , for any n  1
 x  3c  z , for any n  3
 n
 2 
n 2 n 1

 yn  2cn 1 , for any n  2

 zn  4cn  2  zn 1 for any n  3
.

Using these formulas, we can find the value of c10 :

x1  0, y1  2, z1  0  c1  2
x2  3, y2  4, z2  4  c2  11
x3  10, y3  22, z3  12  c3  44
x4  45, y4  88, z4  56  c4  189
x5  188, y5  378, z5  232  c5  798
x6  799, y6  1596, z6  988  c6  3383
x7  3382, y7  6766, z7  4180  c7  14 328
x8  14 329, y8  28656, z8  17 712  c8  60697
x9  60696, y9  121394, z9  75024  c9  257114
x10  257115, y10  514 228, z10  317812  c10  1089155 .

From
 2 c 
we can deduce a recurrence formula for n n 1 . Indeed, we have:
cn  xn  yn  zn  3cn 2  zn1  2cn 1  4cn 2  zn 1  2cn 1  7cn 2  2 zn 1 , for any n  3 ,
thus
cn 1  cn  2cn  5cn 1  7cn 2  2  zn  zn 1   2cn  5cn 1  7cn 2  8cn 2  2cn  5cn 1  cn 2 , for any n  3
,
so
cn 1  3cn  5cn 1  cn 2 , for any n  3 ,
or
cn  3cn 1  5cn 2  cn 3 , for any n  4 ,

which, knowing that c1  2, c 2  11 and c3  44 , gives us c10  1089155 .

d) Solution 1
Let d n be the number of ways we can cover a 3  n rectangular wall with 2  1 domino tiles.
We denote with xn the number of coverings which finish like this:

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We denote with yn the number of coverings which finish like this:

We have:
 d n  xn  yn , for any n  1

 3  xn  3  d n 2 , for any n  3
 y  2d  y , for any n  5
 n n 4 n 2

Using
 3 , we find:
x1  0, y1  0  d1  0
x2  3, y2  0  d 2  3
x3  0, y3  0  d 3  0
x4  9, y4  2  d 4  11
x5  0, y5  0  d 5  0
x6  33, y6  8  d 6  41
x7  0, y7  0  d 7  0
x8  123, y8  30  d 8  153
x9  0, y9  0  d 9  0
x10  459, y10  112  d10  571 .
d 
Let us find now a recurrence formula for the sequence n n 1 .
 3
From , we get:
d n  xn  yn  3d n 2  2d n 4  yn 2 , for any n  5 ,
thus
d n  2  3d n  2d n 2  yn , for any n  3 ,
therefore
d n  2  d n  3d n  2d n 2  yn  3d n 2  2d n 4  yn 2  3d n  d n 2  2d n  4   yn  yn 2  
3d n  d n 2  2d n 4  2d n 4  3d n  d n 2 ,
so
d n  2  4d n  d n 2 , for any n  3 .
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Finally, we have
d n  4d n 2  d n 4 , for any n  5 .

With this formula, and with d1  d 3  0 , d 2  3, d 4  11 , we can compute d n , for any natural number n.
This way, we get d10  571 .

Solution 2.
d
Let n be the number of ways we can put the domino tiles, so we can have a complete 3  n wall.

x
Let n be the number of ways we can arrange the domino tiles, so we have a 3  n wall, but
with the top right corner missing.

y
Let n be the number of ways we can arrange the domino tiles, so we have a 3  n wall, but
with the bottom right corner missing.

These are all the possible ways the last column can end, any other possibility leading to a
configuration with an infinite number of domino tiles.

All the possibilities from which we can obtain a

d n type of tiling based on pre-calculations are:

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.
So,
d n  d n 2  xn 1  yn 1 , for any even n  4 .
d x y
Observation. We only have solutions for an even n in n , respectively an odd n in n and n .

All the possibilities in which we can obtain a

xn type of tiling based on pre-calculations (and not
counted twice) are:

So,
xn  d n 1  xn 2 , for any odd n  3 .

Observation:
xn  yn , for any odd n , because every arrangement counted in xn can be associated with
y
the same configuration from n , but flipped horizontally.

We have the final formulas:

d n  d n 2  2 xn 1 , for any even n  4
 4 
 xn  d n 1  xn 2 , for any odd n  3 ,

with
d1  0 , d 2  3 , x1  1 .

From the first equation of

 4  , we get
d n 1  d n 1  d n1  2 xn  d n3  2 xn 2  d n1  d n3  2  xn  xn 2   d n1  d n 3  2d n 1  3d n 1  d n 3
,
thus
d n 1  4d n 1  d n 3 , for any n  3 ,
or
d n  4d n 2  d n 4 , for any n  5 ,
which is the same relation as in Solution 1.
The answer is d10  571 .

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3. CONCLUSION

We have answered all the questions in the research proposal, by providing detailed solutions and
drawing suggestive diagrams. For some of the questions, we have given two different solutions. The
solutions are based on the construction of relevant recurrence relations for the number of tiling designs.
The recurrences we have derived in this paper are of orders two (for question (a)), three (for questions
(b) and (c)) and four (for question (d)). We can see that, the more different types of tiles are used in the
pattern design, the higher is the order of the recurrence relation. We expect that, for more complicated
lattice shapes, the recurrence relation will have even higher orders, and their derivation will not be easy
at all.

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