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Algebra Difficulty 8.6 Shortlist Prove it United States

Let N0+\mathbb{N}_0^+ and Q\mathbb{Q} be the set of nonnegative integers and rational numbers, respectively. Define the function f:N0+Qf : \mathbb{N}_0^+ \to \mathbb{Q} by f(0)=0f(0) = 0 and
f(3n+k)=3f(n)2+k,for k=0,1,2.f(3n + k) = -\frac{3f(n)}{2} + k, \quad \text{for } k = 0, 1, 2.
Prove that ff is one-to-one, and determine its range.

Solution

We prove that the range of ff is the set TT of rational numbers of the form m/2nm/2^n for mZm \in \mathbb{Z} and nN0+n \in \mathbb{N}_0^+ (also known as the dyadic rational numbers). For x,yTx, y \in T, we write xy(mod3)x \equiv y \pmod 3 to mean that the numerator of xyx - y, when written in lowest terms, is divisible by 3. Define the function g:T{0,1,2}g : T \to \{0, 1, 2\} by declaring that for xTx \in T, g(x)g(x) is the unique element of {0,1,2}\{0, 1, 2\} such that g(x)x(mod3)g(x) \equiv x \pmod 3.

We first check that ff is one-to-one. Suppose that f(a)=f(b)f(a) = f(b) for some a,bN0+a, b \in \mathbb{N}_0^+ with a<ba < b; choose such a pair with bb minimal. Now note that f(a)a(mod3)f(a) \equiv a \pmod 3 and f(b)b(mod3)f(b) \equiv b \pmod 3 from the definition of ff. Hence ab(mod3)a \equiv b \pmod 3. Choose the i{0,1,2}i \in \{0, 1, 2\} that is congruent to aa and bb modulo 3, and put a=(ai)/3a' = (a-i)/3 and b=(bi)/3b' = (b-i)/3. Then f(a)=f(b)f(a') = f(b'), but a<ba' < b' and b<bb' < b since b>0b > 0. This contradicts the choice of aa and bb. Hence no such pairs exist.

We next verify that TT, which clearly contains the range of ff, is in fact equal to it. Define the map h:TTh : T \to T by setting h(x)=23(g(x)x)h(x) = \frac{2}{3}(g(x)-x). Then xx is in the image of ff whenever h(x)h(x) is: if h(x)=f(a)h(x) = f(a), then x=f(3a+g(x))x = f(3a + g(x)). Hence it suffices to show that if one starts from xx and applies hh repeatedly, one eventually ends up with an element of the range of ff.

First note that if xx is not an integer, then g(x)xg(x) - x has the same denominator as xx, and h(x)h(x) has denominator half of that. Hence some xix_i is an integer.

Next, by the Triangle Inequality,
h(x)23(2+x)<x |h(x)| \leq \frac{2}{3}(2 + |x|) < |x|
whenever x>4|x| > 4. Thus, our process eventually hits an integer of absolute value bounded by 4. Simple computation yields the following table:

x-4-3-2-101234
h(x)4222000-2-2

¿From the table, it is clear that starting from any point in {4,3,,4}\{-4, -3, \ldots, 4\}, within 4 applications of hh, our process hits zero. Since f(0)=0f(0) = 0, this value is in the range of ff, so we are done.

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