Grid shading that forces a crowded row
Question
A grid of white unit squares has rows and columns. In every column exactly squares are coloured black. Find the smallest , as a function , that guarantees some row contains at least black squares, and evaluate .
Short answer
43. If every row had at most black squares the total would be at most , while the total is ; and a cyclic shading spreads squares evenly so that is achievable. Hence .
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