Number theoryDifficulty 7.6National Olympiad, round 2Prove itRomania
Given two distinct square-free positive integers a and b, show that ∣{na}−{nb}∣>cn−3, for some positive constant c and all positive integers n.
Solution
Assume, without any loss, that a>b, consider a positive integer n, and let kn=⌊na⌋−⌊nb⌋. Since n(a−b) is irrational, it follows that {na}={nb}, so 0<∣{na}−{nb}∣=∣n(a−b)−kn∣=(n(a+b)−kn)(n(a+b)+kn)(n(a−b)+kn)Kn, where Kn is a positive integer. Finally, notice that kn<⌊na⌋+⌊nb⌋<n(a+b), to obtain ∣{na}−{nb}∣>n(a+b)⋅2n(a+b)(n(a−b)+n(a+b))1=4n3(a+b)2a1=n3c,where c=4(a+b)2a1>0.
Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track
puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.
Source: MathNet,
licensed CC-BY-4.0.
Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.