# How many different ways are there to tile a corridor of $2 \times N$ [closed]

How many different ways are there to tile a corridor of $2 \times N$ meters with blue tiles of $1 \times 2$ meters?

## closed as off-topic by Travis, Jean-Claude Arbaut, user223391, graydad, quid♦Oct 24 '15 at 16:25

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• Try to find a reccurence $u_n=u_{n-1}+u_{n-2}$. The answer will be the Fibonacci numbers. To find this relation, consider a $N\times2$ (vertical) corridor, and how you fill the top: either with an horizontal $1\times2$ tile, either with two vertical tiles. And then you have respectively to fill a $(N-1) \times 2$ or a $(N-2)\times2$ corridor. – Jean-Claude Arbaut Oct 24 '15 at 10:56

Let the number of ways to fill the $2 \times N$ grid with $1 \times 2$ tiles be $f(N)$

We will think of the grid as vertical with base 2.

$Case 1$ : We start with one tile placed horizontally (to fill the first row)

Number of ways to fill the rest = $f(N-1)$ since we are left with a $2 \times (N-1)$ grid

$Case 2$ : We start with two tiles placed vertically to fill the first two rows.

Number of ways to fill the rest = $f(N-2)$

These are all the cases, therefore, $$f(N) = f(N-1) + f(N-2), f(1)=1, f(2)=2$$

This is similar to the fibonacci numbers and gives a closed form as:

$$f(N) = {{{\phi^{(N+1)} - (1- \phi)^{(N+1)}} }\over {\sqrt 5}} , \phi ={1+\sqrt 5 \over 2}$$