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You are given an n×n square matrix to be filled with numerals so that no two adjacent cells have the same numeral. Two cells are called adjacent if they touch each other horizontally, vertically or diagonally. So a cell in one of the four corners has three cells adjacent to it, and a cell in the first or last row or column which is not in the corner has five cells adjacent to it. Any other cell has eight cells adjacent to it.
What is the minimum number of different numerals needed to fill a 5×5 square matrix?
Correct Answer: 4
Let us consider a 5x5 matrix. Let us start with the top left square and fill number 1 in as many squares as possible.
We have to use a second number, 2 to fill the gap between two 1s.
All the cells in row 2 and row 4 are adjacent to the cells containing numbers 1 and 2. Therefore, rows 2 and 4 should be filled with a new set of numbers. We need at least 2 numbers to fill a row such that the adjacent cells do not contain the same number (by alternating the numbers in the consecutive cells). Rows 2 and 4 are completely isolated from each other and hence, the same set of numbers can be used to fill both the rows.
As we can see, a minimum of 4 numbers are required to fill a 5x5 matrix. Therefore, 4 is the correct answer.
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