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Number theory Difficulty 7.7 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it United States

Let pp be a prime number and let ss be an integer with 0<s<p0 < s < p. Prove that there exist integers mm and nn with 0<m<n<p0 < m < n < p and
{smp}<{snp}<sp \{\frac{sm}{p}\} < \{\frac{sn}{p}\} < \frac{s}{p}
if and only if ss is not a divisor of p1p-1.
(For xx a real number, let x\lfloor x \rfloor denote the greatest integer less than or equal to xx, and let {x}=xx\{x\} = x - \lfloor x \rfloor denote the fractional part of xx.)

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

First suppose that ss is a divisor of p1p-1; write d=(p1)/sd = (p-1)/s. As xx varies among 1,2,,p11, 2, \dots, p-1, {sx/p}\{sx/p\} takes the values 1/p,2/p,,(p1)/p1/p, 2/p, \dots, (p-1)/p once each in some order. The possible values with {sx/p}<s/p\{sx/p\} < s/p are precisely 1/p,,(s1)/p1/p, \dots, (s-1)/p. From the fact that {sd/p}=(p1)/p\{sd/p\} = (p-1)/p, we realize that the values {sx/p}=(p1)/p,(p2)/p,,(ps+1)/p\{sx/p\} = (p-1)/p, (p-2)/p, \dots, (p-s+1)/p occur for
x=d,2d,,(s1)d x = d, 2d, \dots, (s-1)d
(which are all between 0 and pp), and so the values {sx/p}=1/p,2/p,,(s1)/p\{sx/p\} = 1/p, 2/p, \dots, (s-1)/p occur for
x=pd,p2d,,p(s1)d, x = p - d, p - 2d, \dots, p - (s-1)d,
respectively. From this it is clear that mm and nn cannot exist as requested.

Conversely, suppose that ss is not a divisor of p1p-1. Put m=p/sm = \lfloor p/s \rfloor; then mm is the smallest positive integer such that {ms/p}<s/p\{ms/p\} < s/p, and in fact {ms/p}=(msp)/p\{ms/p\} = (ms - p)/p. However, we cannot have {ms/p}=(s1)/p\{ms/p\} = (s-1)/p or else (m1)s=p1(m-1)s = p-1, contradicting our hypothesis that ss does not divide p1p-1. Hence the unique n{1,,p1}n \in \{1, \dots, p-1\} for which {nx/p}=(s1)/p\{nx/p\} = (s-1)/p has the desired properties (since the fact that {nx/p}<s/p\{nx/p\} < s/p forces nmn \ge m, but mnm \ne n).

Solution 2

We prove the contrapositive statement:
Let pp be a prime number and let ss be an integer with 0<s<p0 < s < p. Prove that the following statements are equivalent:
(a) ss is a divisor of p1p-1;
(b) if integers mm and nn are such that 0<m<p0 < m < p, 0<n<p0 < n < p, and
{smp}<{snp}<sp, \{\frac{sm}{p}\} < \{\frac{sn}{p}\} < \frac{s}{p},
then 0<n<m<p0 < n < m < p.
Since pp is prime and 0<s<p0 < s < p, ss is relatively prime to pp and
m1s+a1p=1, m2s+a2p=2,,mss+asp=s. m_1s + a_1p = 1,\ m_2s + a_2p = 2, \dots, m_s s + a_s p = s.
Hence {mks/p}=k/p\{m_k s/p\} = k/p for 1ks1 \le k \le s.
Statement (b) holds if and only 0<ms<ms1<<m1<p0 < m_s < m_{s-1} < \dots < m_1 < p. For 1ks11 \le k \le s-1, mksmk+1s=(ak+1ak)p1m_k s - m_{k+1} s = (a_{k+1} - a_k) p - 1, or (mkmk+1)s1(modp)(m_k - m_{k+1}) s \equiv -1 \pmod p. Since 0<mk+1<mk<p0 < m_{k+1} < m_k < p, by (1), we have mkmk+1=dm_k - m_{k+1} = d. We conclude that (b) holds if and only if ms,ms1,,m1m_s, m_{s-1}, \dots, m_1 form an arithmetic progression with common difference d-d. Clearly ms=1m_s = 1, so m1=1+(s1)d=jpd+1m_1 = 1 + (s-1)d = jp - d + 1 for some jj. Then j=1j=1 because m1m_1 and dd are both positive and less than pp, so sd=p1sd = p-1. This proves (a).

Conversely, if (a) holds, then sd=p1sd = p-1 and mkdsmkdk(modp)m_k \equiv -d s m_k \equiv -d k \pmod p. Hence mk=pdkm_k = p-dk for 1ks1 \le k \le s. Thus ms,ms1,,m1m_s, m_{s-1}, \dots, m_1 form an arithmetic progression with common difference d-d. Hence (b) holds.

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