• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 17:53
CEST 23:53
KST 06:53
  • 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
Code S Season 2 (2026): RO4 and Finals Preview12TL.net Map Contest #22 - Voting & Ladder Map Selection6Code S Season 2 (2026) - RO8 Preview5[ASL21] Finals Preview: Two Legacies21Code S Season 2 (2026) - RO12 Preview2
Community News
[BSL22] Non-Korean Championship from 13 to 28 June2Weekly Cups (May 25-31): Clem doubles, 2v2 circuit heads toward finale0StarCraft II 5.0.16 PTR Patch Notes may 26th151Weekly Cups (May 18-24): MaxPax wins doubles0Crank Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League6
StarCraft 2
General
TL Poll: How do you feel about the 5.0.16 PTR balance changes? Oliveira Would Have Returned If EWC Continued TL.net Map Contest #22 - Voting & Ladder Map Selection Code S Season 2 (2026): RO4 and Finals Preview What kind of tool would you be interested in?
Tourneys
Maestros of The Game 2 announcement and schedule ! Douyu Cup 2026 GSL Code S Season 2 (2026) Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament WardiTV Mondays
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
[D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 529 Opportunities Unleashed Mutation # 528 Infection Detected Welcome to the External Content forum
Brood War
General
BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ BW fans in southern Sweden, look here! 25 Years Since Brood War Patch 1.08 BW General Discussion BW animated web series: seeking contributors
Tourneys
[BSL22] Grand Finals - Sunday 21:00 CEST [ASL21] Grand Finals [Megathread] Daily Proleagues Escore Tournament StarCraft Season 2
Strategy
Any training maps people recommend? Why doesn't anyone use restoration? Muta micro map competition [G] Hydra ZvZ: An Introduction
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread PC Games Sales Thread Nintendo Switch Thread ZeroSpace Megathread Summer Games Done Quick 2026!
Dota 2
Looking for a Dota Mentor Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Trading/Investing Thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine YouTube Thread
Fan Clubs
The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
[Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books [TV/BOOK] *SPOILERS* Game of Thrones Discussion Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread McBoner: A hockey love story Formula 1 Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread Facing Challenges in Mobile App Development
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
An Exploration of th…
waywardstrategy
I'm an arrogant trash talke…
FlaShFTW
Gauntlet SC2: A Retrospectiv…
Ctone23
Esportsmanship: How to NOT B…
TrAiDoS
Why RTS gamers make better f…
gosubay
ASL S21 English Commentary…
namkraft
StarCraft improvement
iopq
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 19577 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 States24777 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 2h 7m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
elazer 146
ProTech97
StarCraft: Brood War
Sea 1424
Dewaltoss 147
910 36
Dota 2
LuMiX1
League of Legends
Doublelift3082
Super Smash Bros
hungrybox5
Heroes of the Storm
Liquid`Hasu298
Other Games
summit1g11583
Grubby3975
FrodaN665
shahzam594
uThermal350
byalli285
C9.Mang0157
ZombieGrub77
UpATreeSC33
Organizations
Other Games
BasetradeTV194
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 15 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• intothetv
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• Kozan
• Hupsaiya 0
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• blackmanpl 50
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• TFBlade1705
Other Games
• imaqtpie828
• Shiphtur194
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
2h 7m
The PondCast
12h 7m
Maestros of the Game
17h 7m
Serral vs Rogue
herO vs SHIN
OSC
1d
Replay Cast
1d 2h
Maestros of the Game
1d 16h
Replay Cast
2 days
CranKy Ducklings
2 days
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
2 days
BSL22 NKC (BSL vs China)
2 days
eOnzErG vs Mihu
Messiah vs XuanXuan
Jaystar vs TerrOr
Dewalt vs Bonyth
eOnzErG vs XuanXuan
Mihu vs TerrOr
Messiah vs Bonyth
[ Show More ]
Sparkling Tuna Cup
3 days
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
3 days
BSL22 NKC (BSL vs China)
3 days
Jaystar vs Dewalt
eOnzErG vs TerrOr
XuanXuan vs Bonyth
Mihu vs Dewalt
Messiah vs Jaystar
eOnzErG vs Bonyth
TerrOr vs Dewalt
OSC
4 days
Wardi Open
4 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

BSL Season 22
2026 GSL S2
Heroes Pulsing #1

Ongoing

IPSL Spring 2026
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 2
Acropolis #4
CSCL: Masked Kings S4
YSL S3
Acropolis #4 - GSB
SCTL 2026 Spring
WardiTV Spring 2026
Maestros of the Game 2
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Murky Cup 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026

Upcoming

BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
CSLAN 4
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
HSC XXIX
Douyu Cup 2026
Heroes Pulsing #3
Heroes Pulsing #2
Esports World Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 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.