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Algebra Difficulty 6.1 National olympiad Prove it Romania

For any real number xx, let A(x)=x2+4xA(x) = x^2 + 4\lfloor x \rfloor.

a) Find the real numbers xx for which A(x)={x}2A(x) = \{x\}^2.

b) Find the real numbers y>0y > 0 for which A(y)A(y) is the square of a natural number.

Solution

a) (x+{x})2+4x={x}2(\lfloor x \rfloor + \{x\})^2 + 4\lfloor x \rfloor = \{x\}^2 yields x2+2x{x}+4x=0\lfloor x \rfloor^2 + 2\lfloor x \rfloor\{x\} + 4\lfloor x \rfloor = 0, (*).
If x0x \ge 0, then x=0\lfloor x \rfloor = 0, thus any x[0,1)x \in [0, 1) is a solution.
If x<0x < 0, equality (*) leads to {x}=x2+4x2x=x+42\{x\} = -\frac{\lfloor x \rfloor^2 + 4\lfloor x \rfloor}{2\lfloor x \rfloor} = -\frac{\lfloor x \rfloor + 4}{2}. Since {x}[0,1)\{x\} \in [0, 1), we conclude that x{5,4}\lfloor x \rfloor \in \{-5, -4\}, thus obtaining the solutions x1=92x_1 = -\frac{9}{2}, x2=4x_2 = -4, which verify the equality.
Therefore, x{92,4}[0,1)x \in \{-\frac{9}{2}, -4\} \cup [0, 1).

b) For y(0,1)y \in (0, 1) we have A(y)=y2(0,1)A(y) = y^2 \in (0, 1), A(1)=5A(1) = 5, and for y[1,2)y \in [1, 2) we have A(y)=y2+4(5,8)A(y) = y^2 + 4 \in (5, 8), thus A(y)A(y) is not a perfect square for y(0,2)y \in (0, 2).
For y2y \ge 2, the condition from the statement leads to y2Ny^2 \in \mathbb{N}, therefore y=my = \sqrt{m}, with mNm \in \mathbb{N}, m4m \ge 4, leading to m+4m=p2m + 4\lfloor\sqrt{m}\rfloor = p^2, with pNp \in \mathbb{N}.
If k=mk = \lfloor\sqrt{m}\rfloor, then k2k \ge 2 and k2m<(k+1)2k^2 \le m < (k+1)^2, hence m+4k=p2m + 4k = p^2.
Using the fact that k2+4kp2<(k+1)2+4k=k2+6k+1<(k+3)2k^2 + 4k \le p^2 < (k+1)^2 + 4k = k^2 + 6k + 1 < (k+3)^2, it follows that (1) p2=(k+1)2=1p^2 = (k+1)^2 = 1, for k=0k=0 or (2) p2=9p^2 = 9 for k=1k=1, values that do not verify the equality in the statement, or (3) p2=(k+2)2p^2 = (k+2)^2, for k2k \ge 2.

Therefore, p=k+2p = k + 2 and m=(k+2)24k=k2+4m = (k + 2)^2 - 4k = k^2 + 4. Thus, the numbers that verify the equality in the statement are y=k2+4y = \sqrt{k^2 + 4}, kNk \in \mathbb{N}, k2k \ge 2.

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