b) Find the real numbers y>0 for which A(y) is the square of a natural number.
Solution
a) (⌊x⌋+{x})2+4⌊x⌋={x}2 yields ⌊x⌋2+2⌊x⌋{x}+4⌊x⌋=0, (*). If x≥0, then ⌊x⌋=0, thus any x∈[0,1) is a solution. If x<0, equality (*) leads to {x}=−2⌊x⌋⌊x⌋2+4⌊x⌋=−2⌊x⌋+4. Since {x}∈[0,1), we conclude that ⌊x⌋∈{−5,−4}, thus obtaining the solutions x1=−29, x2=−4, which verify the equality. Therefore, x∈{−29,−4}∪[0,1).
b) For y∈(0,1) we have A(y)=y2∈(0,1), A(1)=5, and for y∈[1,2) we have A(y)=y2+4∈(5,8), thus A(y) is not a perfect square for y∈(0,2). For y≥2, the condition from the statement leads to y2∈N, therefore y=m, with m∈N, m≥4, leading to m+4⌊m⌋=p2, with p∈N. If k=⌊m⌋, then k≥2 and k2≤m<(k+1)2, hence m+4k=p2. Using the fact that k2+4k≤p2<(k+1)2+4k=k2+6k+1<(k+3)2, it follows that (1) p2=(k+1)2=1, for k=0 or (2) p2=9 for k=1, values that do not verify the equality in the statement, or (3) p2=(k+2)2, for k≥2.
Therefore, p=k+2 and m=(k+2)2−4k=k2+4. Thus, the numbers that verify the equality in the statement are y=k2+4, k∈N, k≥2.
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