• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 11:56
CEST 17:56
KST 00:56
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
[ASL22] Ro24 Preview: Summer's End6Serral wins HomeStory Cup 2915Serral wins Maestros of the Game 243ByuL, and the Limitations of Standard Play3Team Liquid Map Contest #22: Results and Winners7
Community News
GSTL Returns in 2026!43Weekly Cups (Aug 3-9): Protoss get shut out7RSL goes to London! 2026 Offline Finals Nov 21-2212Weekly Cups (July 27-Aug 2): SHIN's big week0SC4ALL II: Brood War - $2500 - Dec 5-611
StarCraft 2
General
GSTL Returns in 2026! Balance hotfix patch 5.0.16b (July 16) SC4ALL: II Talent Announcement! Protoss AoE skill expression Weekly Cups (Aug 3-9): Protoss get shut out
Tourneys
PIG STY FESTIVAL 8.0! (13 - 23 August) WardiTV Mondays 2026 KungFu Cup Announcement Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament 2026 GSTL Announcement
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
Nexus Wars 2021 GUIDE [M] (2) Industrial Park
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 539 Thunder Dome Mutation # 538 Media Blackout Mutation # 537 Hostile Territory
Brood War
General
SC4ALL II: Brood War Player Announcement 3/4 - soO Rush's Odyssey Controversy [ASL22] Ro24 Preview: Summer's End BW General Discussion StarCraft 64 is coming to Philly at SC4ALL II
Tourneys
Small VOD Thread 2.0 [ASL22] Ro24 Group A CSLAN 4 is Coming! ASL Season 22 LIVESTREAM with English Commentary
Strategy
Odyssey Mineral Stack Saturation Fighting Spirit mining rates Any training maps people recommend? Simple Questions, Simple Answers
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread General RTS Discussion Thread Anyone here play Quakeworld back in the day? Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread EVE Corporation
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
[TL LoL EUW IHs] Teemo shall perish TSM pausing esports and CLG Dead
Heroes of the Storm
Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Power Rank TL Mafia Community Thread NeO.D_StephenKing vs This Guy From 1 Million Dance
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Artificial Intelligence Thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread The Letting Off Steam Thread
Fan Clubs
MarineLorD Fan Club The ShoWTimE Fan Club The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! Anime Discussion Thread Series you have seen recently...
Sports
MLB/Baseball 2023 Football (Soccer) Thread TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 NBA General Discussion Formula 1 Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread Simple Questions Simple Answers FPS when play League Of Legend on laptop
TL Community
The Automated Ban List Northern Ireland Global Starcraft
Blogs
LOCKPICKING NOOB
LUCKY_NOOB
Chinese Gen Z: Between Dream…
TrAiDoS
Cathedral Of CS And NY pizza a…
FuDDx
Please support my new stand…
Peanutsc
Hello guys!
LIN1s
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 9939 users

College and a math problem

Blogs > Muirhead
Post a Reply
Muirhead
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
United States556 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-09-04 02:13:52
April 03 2008 23:13 GMT
#1
Harvard waitlisted me... It seems they rejected or waitlisted many of the top US mathematics students of the year (based on math competitions and Westinghouse). 9 of us are going to MIT . I can't help but think Harvard shot itself in the foot.

Here's a problem easier than the last few I've posted:
Given a 1000x1000 chessboard, n squares are colored red and the rest are colored blue. I am not able to pick 3 red squares such that two of them are in different columns and (a possibly different) two of them are in different rows. What is the maximum possible value of n, with proof?

****
starleague.mit.edu
micronesia
Profile Blog Joined July 2006
United States24793 Posts
April 03 2008 23:20 GMT
#2
How long would it take a computer program to calculate that by brute force? For me that would probably be the easier way haha.
ModeratorThere are animal crackers for people and there are people crackers for animals.
Myxomatosis
Profile Blog Joined July 2006
United States2392 Posts
April 03 2008 23:30 GMT
#3
is this an induction problem?
clazziquai
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
6685 Posts
April 03 2008 23:35 GMT
#4
On April 04 2008 08:13 Muirhead wrote:
Harvard waitlisted me... It seems they rejected or waitlisted 7 of the top 10 US mathematics students of the year (based on math competitions and Westinghouse). 9 of us are going to MIT . I can't help but think Harvard shot itself in the foot.

Here's a problem easier than the last few I've posted:
Given a 1000x1000 chessboard, n squares are colored red and the rest are colored blue. I am not able to pick 3 red squares such that two of them are in different columns and (a possibly different) two of them are in different rows. What is the maximum possible value of n, with proof?


Maximum possible value is OVER 9000! Proof? It's over 9000.....

WAIT

so you're one of the top 10 mathematicians in the USA? For high school students?


#1 Sea.Really Fan / #1 Nesh Fan / Terran Forever~
letsbefree
Profile Blog Joined January 2008
Canada123 Posts
April 04 2008 00:12 GMT
#5
wow on Harvard waitlist...thats pretty fucking impressive
hehe...
Daveed
Profile Blog Joined December 2006
United States236 Posts
April 04 2008 00:19 GMT
#6
MIT math is better anyway =P
il0seonpurpose
Profile Blog Joined January 2007
Korea (South)5638 Posts
April 04 2008 00:19 GMT
#7
Hey, its good to know you're smart but you don't have to be all cocky about how you're waitlisted and how harvard screwed up.
B1nary
Profile Blog Joined January 2008
Canada1267 Posts
April 04 2008 00:27 GMT
#8
Congrats on getting into MIT. Even you don't go to Harvard, you can take courses there since the two are so close.

solution to problem?
+ Show Spoiler +
1000, all in one row or column. Suppose n=1001. By the pigeonhole thing, two rows must contain red squares and 2 columns must contain red squares. This allows you to pick 2 from different columns and 2 from different rows and it's gg. I suck at presenting proofs XD. I lost so many points in high school contests from crappy presentation, lol.
Zalfor
Profile Blog Joined October 2005
United States1035 Posts
April 04 2008 01:48 GMT
#9
+ Show Spoiler +
the stupid answer seems like 1000. i don't see a better solution
555, kthxbai
raiame
Profile Joined December 2007
United States421 Posts
April 04 2008 02:23 GMT
#10
I can't seem to find a different answer, but it seems too simple... >.< I suck at math.
Who would you say are the top 10? I'd like to say Haitao and Jacob Steinhardt are some <.< >.>
Slithe
Profile Blog Joined February 2007
United States985 Posts
April 04 2008 02:25 GMT
#11
I'm really surprised that Harvard is rejecting/waitlisting so many of the top math students. Then again, the college admissions process has always seemed quite mysterious to me. MIT's cooler anyway.
Muirhead
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
United States556 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-04-04 02:56:05
April 04 2008 02:54 GMT
#12
B1nary the point is that there must be 3 squares such that 2 are in the same row and 2 are in the same column. Your proof just shows that out of all the (much more than 3) red squares, two are in the same row and two are in the same column. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding something?

Raiame are you from TJ? Haitao and Jacob are both really really good and hardworkers too. I think Alex Zhai is the best in the class though. Haha you're not Haitao are you?
starleague.mit.edu
raiame
Profile Joined December 2007
United States421 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-04-04 02:58:06
April 04 2008 02:56 GMT
#13
Yeah I am. Bah, I remember a time when I was better than Jacob at math <.< Haitao was always better than me although I beat him in state mathcounts >< Also, I never got into proofs, still short answer =[
Yeah Zhai's probably best.
Jacob's going to MIT, but I'm under the impression that Haitao's not sure yet.
Dromar
Profile Blog Joined June 2007
United States2145 Posts
April 04 2008 03:20 GMT
#14
+ Show Spoiler +
1000 ez.
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 19m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
RotterdaM 396
ProTech72
RushiSC 28
StarCraft: Brood War
Calm 5811
Shuttle 1776
Mini 821
BeSt 729
Soulkey 417
EffOrt 404
Soma 351
Larva 281
Stork 274
Mong 192
[ Show more ]
ggaemo 160
Snow 79
sSak 67
Hyun 54
Terrorterran 37
sorry 24
Bale 22
zelot 19
yabsab 12
ajuk12(nOOB) 10
Dota 2
Gorgc9271
qojqva3473
Counter-Strike
pashabiceps857
x6flipin533
Other Games
singsing2029
Liquid`RaSZi1363
hiko879
B2W.Neo745
Beastyqt598
FrodaN380
ceh9282
TKL 189
crisheroes187
Hui .154
Liquid`VortiX154
ArmadaUGS104
Livibee99
QueenE78
Mew2King47
KnowMe45
Trikslyr35
Organizations
StarCraft 2
TaKeTV 34
StarCraft: Brood War
Kim Chul Min (afreeca) 11
[ Show 15 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• StrangeGG 41
• mYiSmile123
• intothetv
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• Migwel
StarCraft: Brood War
• HerbMon 28
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• WagamamaTV1592
League of Legends
• Jankos2559
• TFBlade1011
Other Games
• Shiphtur88
Upcoming Events
The Patches Monday
19m
RotterdaM396
Afreeca Starleague
18h 4m
Sharp vs Shinee
Action vs Shine
GSL
19h 4m
PiGosaur Cup
1d 8h
Replay Cast
1d 17h
Afreeca Starleague
1d 18h
BeSt vs Paralyze
Jaedong vs Speed
Kung Fu Cup
1d 19h
Replay Cast
2 days
The PondCast
2 days
KCM Race Survival
2 days
[ Show More ]
Replay Cast
3 days
PiG Sty Festival
3 days
CranKy Ducklings
4 days
PiG Sty Festival
4 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
5 days
PiG Sty Festival
5 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

CSLAN 4
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
Eternal Conflict S2 Finale

Ongoing

KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 3
K-JUNGMAN
ASL Season 22
Super Anchor Qualifying S3
RSL Revival: Season 6
PiG Sty Festival 8.0
META DYMY #4
Esports World Cup 2026
Esports World Cup 2026: LCQ
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026

Upcoming

CSL Season 22: Qualifier 1
Escore Tournament S3: W8
CSL Season 22: Qualifier 2
CSL 2026 AUTUMN (S22)
Acropolis #5
Acropolis #5 - TRS
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
HSC XXX
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Offline Finals
Big Dog Cup 2026 Div 1
Stake Ranked Episode 5
PGL Masters Bucharest 2026
Thunderpick World Champ. '26
ESL Pro League Season 24
Stake Ranked Episode 4
1win Private Club #1
Logitech G Connect 2026
SL StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #5
BLAST Open Fall 2026
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.