Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 5.9 AIME, harder Prove it Thailand

Find all positive real numbers xx satisfying the equation
x+[x3]=[2x3]+[3x5], x + \left[ \frac{x}{3} \right] = \left[ \frac{2x}{3} \right] + \left[ \frac{3x}{5} \right],
where [x][x] is the largest integer not exceeding xx.

Solution

It can be seen from the given equation that xx must be a positive integer. Let x=15k+rx = 15k + r where 0r140 \le r \le 14 is an integer and kk is a nonnegative integer. Then
15k+r+[5k+r3]=[10k+2r3]+[9k+3r5] 15k + r + \left[ 5k + \frac{r}{3} \right] = \left[ 10k + \frac{2r}{3} \right] + \left[ 9k + \frac{3r}{5} \right]
which simplifies to k+r+[r3]=[2r3]+[3r5]k + r + \left[ \frac{r}{3} \right] = \left[ \frac{2r}{3} \right] + \left[ \frac{3r}{5} \right]. Thus,
k+r+(r31)<k+r+[r3]=[2r3]+[3r5]2r3+3r5=19r15 k + r + \left( \frac{r}{3} - 1 \right) < k + r + \left[ \frac{r}{3} \right] = \left[ \frac{2r}{3} \right] + \left[ \frac{3r}{5} \right] \le \frac{2r}{3} + \frac{3r}{5} = \frac{19r}{15}
which follows that k<1r151k < 1 - \frac{r}{15} \le 1. But k0k \ge 0; so, we have k=0k = 0.
It can now be verified that the only solutions are x=2,5x = 2, 5.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.