Problem

Source: Indonesia TST 2016 Round 3

Tags: combinatorics, Coloring, Tiling



Let $n \ge 3$ be a positive integer. We call a $3 \times 3$ grid beautiful if the cell located at the center is colored white and all other cells are colored black, or if it is colored black and all other cells are colored white. Determine the minimum value of $a+b$ such that there exist positive integers $a$, $b$ and a coloring of an $a \times b$ grid with black and white, so that it contains $n^2 - n$ beautiful subgrids.