Combinatorics

Modelling Recurrence Relation

Exercise 1

For n ≥ 1 we want to tile a 2 × n chessboard using the three tiles shown below, which can be
rotated and mirrored in any direction. Let an count the number of such tilings.

a) What are the initial values for a1 and a2 ?

b) To obtain a recurrence relation for an we in addition let bn count the number of tilings
of a pruned 2 × n chessboard in which a corner cell has been removed.1 Give recurrence
relations both for an and bn for n ≥ 2. (You don’t need to derive a direct formula.)

1
It does not matter which corner you remove, because these are mirrored versions of each other.

1
Solution a)

We have a1 = 2, a2 = 7 as shown below:

Solution b)

Let’s consider an . We can either: (1) fill the left column with 1 × 1 blocks which
can be extended with an−1 tilings; (2) use the large z-shaped-block for which there are
2 ways to place it (one as above, one mirrored). In both cases the left side can only
be filled with a 1 × 1 block. The remainder can be extended with bn−2 tilings (hence
2bn−2 possibilities total); (3) use the 2 × 1 block on the left. We can either (3a) place it
vertically and extend it with an−1 tilings, or (3b) place it horizontally. When placing it
horizontally we can either add another 2 × 1 block (followed by an−2 tilings) or add a
1 × 1 block, which can be done in 2 ways (below/above) and can be extended with bn−1
tilings (hence 2bn−1 possibilities total). This gives:

an = 2an−1 + an−2 + 2bn−1 + 2bn−2

Considering bn there are 3 ways to fill up the pruned side of the chessboard. We can either
(1) use a 1 × 1 block and extend it with an−1 tilings, (2) use a z-shaped-block and extend
it with bn−2 tilings, or (3) use a 2 × 1 block and extend it with bn−1 tilings. This gives:

bn = an−1 + bn−1 + bn−2

Not part of the exercise: we can use the recurrence relation for bn to construct a recurrence
relation for an that only consists of terms ai . Multiplying the 2nd equation by 2 and sub-
tracting it from the 1st equation gives an − 2bn = an−2 or equivalently bn = (an − an−2 )/2.
Substituting this in the first equation would give the following recurrence equation for an

an = 3an−1 + 2an−2 − an−3 − an−4