Question

Sam colors each tile in a 4 by 4 grid white or black. A coloring is called rotationally

Answer 1

Answer:

  65,280

Step-by-step explanation:

Consider the 4×4 grid ...

  $\left[\begin{array}{cc}a&b\\d&c\end{array}\right]$

where each of a, b, c, d is a 2×2 array of tiles. Let's use the notation a' to represent the 2×2 array "a" rotated right 1/4 turn. For 90° rotational symmetry, we must have b=a', c=b'=a'', d=c'=b''=a'''. That is, once "a" is determined, the rest of the grid is determined. Since "a" consists of 4 tiles, each of which can be black or white, there are 2^4 = 16 patterns that have 90° rotational symmetry.

The same will be true of 270° rotational symmetry, for the same reason.

__

For 180° rotational symmetry, we must have c=a'' and d=b''. Then the combination of "a" and "b" together fully determines the grid. Together, "a" and "b" consist of 8 tiles, so there are 2^8 = 256 ways to pattern the grid so it will have 180° rotational symmetry. (Of those, 16 have 90° symmetry, and 16 have 270° symmetry. The sets are overlapping.)

__

The 16 tiles of the grid can be colored 2^16 = 65,536 different ways. As we have seen, 256 of those colorings result in 180° rotational symmetry. Then the number of colorings that have no rotational symmetry is ...

  65,536 -256 = 65,280 . . . . colorings not rotationally symmetric