Problem A: Answer is floor(N*M*0.5). Since there is N*M cells on the board and each domino covers exactly two of them we cannot place more for sure. Now let's show how to place exactly this number of dominoes. If N is even, then place M rows of N/2 dominoes and cover the whole board. Else N is odd, so cover N-1 row of the board as shown above and put floor(M/2) dominoes to the last row. In the worst case (N and M are odd) one cell remains uncovered.

Hi everybody,

I am happy to tell you that Codeforces will soon free you from reading those endless "Please, give me test #??" in the comments. Now you can click on a link with the submission-id on the status page and it will show not only the original solution texts, but also the tests on which testing was performed (the judging system report). It will not contain the full inputs/outputs/answers if they are too large – you will have to wait for now and enjoy their prefixes. As soon as we understand that there're no bugs in the implementation, we will open all the previous contests to view the tests.

However, that is only the first step; later you will be able to download contest problem archives that will contain full texts (or their generators) as well as the authors' solutions and other materials.

Of course we do not want Codeforces problems to be copied from one "online judge" to another one. You’ve got to understand that Codeforces puts huge effort into preparing tasks and organizing contests. That's why we limit the material usage to make using our problems on websites or in other automatic testing systems impossible. On the other hand, we will be glad if the contest materials will be useful for individual training or for some assemblies, training sessions etc. with the onsite participants. Read the license text carefully as we want some Codeforces data to be published near (or inside) the problem tasks.

At the moment it is version 0.1 of the license, we will perhaps change a lot in it, but I guess the idea will undergo no changes.

Codeforces materials usage license (v. 0.1)

1. You may publish the texts of Codeforces problems in any open sources, but you must preserve a direct link to the site http://codeforces.ru (http://codeforces.com for English statements) and indicate Codeforces as the problem source. These data should be located in the close proximity to the statement, be easily noticeable and readable. It is forbidden to publish Codeforces problems in open sources supporting automatic testing (such as online judges or similar resources).
2. You must not use tests and other materials of the problems (generators, checkers, validators) to publish tasks in open sources supporting automatic testing (such as online judges or similar resources) even provided the original problem conditions has been changed.
3. You may use the provided material: tests, generators, checkers, validators and others for individual training or to organize short-term teaching and training activities with the participants present on-site. Task conditions should contain the data from paragraph 1 of this license. The secondary (subsequent) distribution of the tasks should contain this license and comply fully with the license’s rules.

Good afternoon.

One more codeforces format round takes place this evening. I'm the author of the contest problems. Artem Rakhov and Maria Belova helped me to prepare the problems. Great thanks to them and all codeforces "fighters"!

I wish you good luck and funny hacks!

P.S:  This round won't be rated. So your ratings won't change. That's because of severe problems with codeforces server. Read here for explanation.

Good evening!

Soon many of you will have your examinations, and someone even have it now. I wish you excellent marks and many easy exams!

Thanks to Nickolay Kuznetsov, Gerald Agapov and Ivan Fefer for their help in preparation of the round.

Good luck!

Artem Rakhov and Codeforces team

UPD:

• Standings
• Problems
• Winner: ghostof2007

Let me say the customary phrase "The series of school online Olympiads have ended!"

The organization of all the Olympiads was supported by Yandex and ABBYY companies. Overall 6 competitions took place, three team Olympiads and three individual ones. It is now high time we looked at the results and found the Olympiad winners. The two nominations (team contests and individual contests) were ratified individually – in each of them the results of the participants’ best two of three performances. Here are the links to the total results in each nomination:

• team contests’ results
• individual contests’ results

Overall about 750 participants from all over the world had been registered during the series. Of course, the majority of them were Russian participants. As we can see, about 180 teams took part in the team contests and more than 400 school students took part in the individual contests.

Good day!

I invite everyone to take part in the last contest of the series of WCS olympiads for school students which is one of the regular Codeforces rounds at the same time. The start of the contest is  on the 12th of December, at 11:00 MSK.

The competition rules are ACM-ICPC rules, the duration of the contest is 3 hours.

Like the previous school individual olympiads, the contest will be rated for all participants (both for school students and others). Rating will be calculated according to the merged result table.

The authors of the problems are me and Dmitry Matov again. Thanks to Gerald Agapov and Artem Rakhov for their help in preparing the problems and to Maria Belova for translating the problem statements.

Good luck everyone!

UPD. The contest is over. The results are available. The winner of School Personal Contest is scottai1, the winner of Codeforces Beta Round is ilyakor. Congratulations to the winners!

The author's problem analysis is posted. Now problems G and H are added to the tutorial, too.

Thanks to everyone who participated in WCS series for school students, officially and unofficially!

Greetings to everybody.

I would like to invite you to take part in the next Codeforces competition, which will be held on 5th of December at 11:00 MSK. This competition will be a part of WCS olympiads (click here for details) and usual Codeforces round at the same time.

This competition, as all previous WCS contests, is sponsored by Yandex and ABBYY.

The official rules of the competition are ACM-ICPC rules. The duration of the competition is 3 hours.

Those who don't participate in selection to WCS will be displayed as "out of competition" in the result table. But everybody will get rating for this competition according to the merged result table.

This time the authors of the problems are Natalia Bondarenko and I. Thanks to Edvard Davtyan for his help in preparing the contest and to Maria Belova for translating problem statements.

Don't forget to register in order to take part in the competition. Good luck at the contest!

• Russian version
• English version

UPD: The results of the contest. Congratulations to tourist, the winner of WCS contest, and to Petr, the winner of beta round #43.

UPD: Links to problem tutorials: A,C,F,G and B,D,E.

One of the most important all-Russia (it's even greater! It's all-region) sport programming contests has approached us. Of course, I mean the ACM-ICPC NEERC 2010/11 World Programming Championship semi-finals. The names of those who will go to the jewel of Egypt, Sharm el-Sheikh will be known in less than a week. Undoubtedly, for some people this contest will become "the flop of 2010". I hope not to become one of them.

As you already know, the Saratov university delegation is going to get on the train tomorrow with some special extra luggage - we are taking about 300 T-shirts with us. Today we spent half a day sorting them into boxes, signing and counting them again. I even managed do divide 68 by 2 incorrectly that nearely led to the shortage of T-shirts :) However all the hardships are over, the presents are packed and we are ready to go. Let me remind you that all the official team members will receive Codeforces T-shirts (unfortunately, the reservists, coaches and the team leaders do not count).

The previous year in St. Petersburg was marked by our hasty visits to all the nearby pharmacies, it was marked by the fact that on the eve of the contest every team had a member with the fever of 38 degrees celsius, it was marked by the fact that one can never have enough paracetamol before the contest. We don't wish anybody to share this wonderful experience, so dress warm, take care of yourselves and of your teams' health!

Have a good journey and see you in St. Petersburg,
МikeMirzayanov