For a given positive integer n let Sn denote the set of all possible values that xn can obtain for different choices of numbers ai, 1≤i≤n. For example:
S1={21,2},S2={31,32,23,3},S3={41,52,53,43,34,35,25,4},…
Note that, for every x∈Sn both x+1 and x+11 belong to Sn+1. Furthermore, one of those two numbers is smaller than 1 and the other is greater than 1. Thus, each Sn consists of even number of numbers. For a given positive integer n let
Sn={a1,a2,…,a2m}, with a1<a2<⋯<a2m
and
Sn+1={b1,b2,…,b2k}, with b1<b2<⋯<b2k.
The following statements can easily be proved by induction:
* Claim 1. m=2n−1, k=2n and thus ∣Sn+1∣=2∣Sn∣.
* Claim 2. a1=n+11, am=n+1n, am+1=nn+1, a2m=n+1.
* Claim 3. b1<b2<⋯<b2m<1<b2m+1<⋯<b4m.
* Claim 4. ai=a2m+1−i1, bi=b4m+1−i1.
* Claim 5. bi=1+a2m+1−i1, for 1≤i≤2m.
* Claim 6. bi=b2m+1−i1, for 1≤i≤2m.
Combining Claim 5 and Claim 4 we get:
bi=1+aiai,for 1≤i≤2m.(2)
For all integers n≥2, we will prove that ai+1−ai≤2n−11 for all 1≤i≤m. That is obviously true for n=2.
As an induction hypothesis, let us assume that this holds for n. We will prove that the claim holds for n+1, i.e. we will prove that bi+1−bi≤2n+11 for all 1≤i≤2m.
From (2) and Claim 2 we know that
bm=2n+1n,bm+1=2n+1n+1.
Therefore,
bm+1−bm=2n+11,
thus the claim holds for i=m. Let us prove that the claim holds for i<m. We have:
bi+1−bi=ai+1+11−ai+11=(1+ai)(1+ai+1)ai+1−ai.
By induction hypothesis, ai+1−ai≤2n−11 and from Claim 2 we know that ai≥n+11 and ai+1≥n+11. Thus,
bi+1−bi=(1+ai)(1+ai+1)ai+1−ai≤(1+n+11)(1+n+11)2n−11<2n+11,
with the last inequality being equivalent to 2n2−5>0 which holds for n≥2. Finally, we will prove that bi+1−bi≤2n+11 for m<i<2m.
From Claim 6 we have:
bi+1−bi=bj1−bj+11=(1+bj)(1+bj+1)bj+1−bj<bj+1−bj<2n+11.
where we denoted j=2m−i<m.
For n=101, let S101={c1,c2,…,cs}, where c1<c2<⋯<cs.
Since c1=1021 and cs=102101 we know that c1−1111<2011 and 111110−cs<2011.
Therefore, in set Sn′={c0,c1,…,cs,cs+1} with c0=1111 and cs+1=111110 the following holds:
ci+1−ci≤2011, for 0<i≤s.
For given x∈[1111,111110], let j be an index such that cj≤x≤cj+1. Since, cj+1−cj≤2011 we conclude that ∣x−cj∣≤4021 or ∣x−cj+1∣≤4021.