7
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You can consider this a "warmup" to my other question about infected squares.

On a $7\times7$ square, some cells are infected; if a cell shares an edge with $3$ infected squares, it becomes infected. Show that we can infect the whole square with only $21$ initially infected cells.

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1 Answer 1

8
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 XOXOXOX
 OXOOOXO
 XOXOXOX
 OOOXOOO
 XOXOXOX
 OXOOOXO
 XOXOXOX

X is infected. O is not.

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4
  • $\begingroup$ Perfect! This is the unique solution. (As a bonus: how many do you think you need for 15x15?) $\endgroup$ Dec 5, 2022 at 3:46
  • $\begingroup$ @AkivaWeinberger is it 85? I would guess it's the solution of this one from each corner, plus a single one in the center $\endgroup$
    – Ivo
    Dec 5, 2022 at 13:37
  • $\begingroup$ @Ivo Indeed it is. This generalizes to give the (unique!) optimal solution for board sizes one less than a power of two. $\endgroup$ Dec 5, 2022 at 14:40
  • $\begingroup$ Proof of optimality: The value (2*Infected area + perimeter) is a monovariant. (Stays same when an empty surrounded by three infecteds becomes infected; shrinks if an empty surrounded by four infecteds becomes infected.) Less than 21 infected has a smaller value than the target position. $\endgroup$ Dec 5, 2022 at 23:20

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