Problem

Source: 2003 Cuba MO 1.3

Tags: combinatorics, Coloring



A $4 \times 4$ board has all its squares painted white. An allowed operation is to choose a rectangle that contains $3$ squares and paint each of the boxes as follows: a) If the box is white then it is painted black. b) If the box is black then it is painted white. Prove that by applying the allowed operation several times, it is impossible get the entire board painted black.