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Algebra Difficulty 5.1 AIME, harder Prove it Romania

Let xx be a real number. Prove that xx is an integer if and only if
[x]+[2x]+[3x]++[nx]=n([x]+[nx])2 [x] + [2x] + [3x] + \dots + [nx] = \frac{n([x] + [nx])}{2}
holds for all positive integers nn (here, [a][a] denotes the integer part (floor function) of the real number aa).

Solution

If xZx \in \mathbb{Z}, then [kx]=k[x][kx] = k[x] for every kNk \in \mathbb{N}^*.

For the converse, notice that the hypothesis implies, for all nn,
n([x]+[nx])+2[(n+1)x]=(n+1)([x]+[(n+1)x]). n([x] + [nx]) + 2[(n+1)x] = (n+1)([x] + [(n+1)x]).
This comes to n[nx]=[x]+(n1)[(n+1)x]n[nx] = [x] + (n-1)[(n+1)x], n1\forall n \ge 1. Replacing nn with n+1n+1 and subtracting the two relations, we obtain that the sequence an=[nx]a_n = [nx] is an arithmetic progression. Since (nx)n1(nx)_{n \ge 1} is also an arithmetic progression, the difference sequence {nx}n1\{nx\}_{n \ge 1} is an arithmetic progression. Since {nx}n1\{nx\}_{n \ge 1} is bounded, its ratio must be 0, whence the conclusion.

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