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Algebra Difficulty 6.1 National olympiad Prove it Austria

Find all pairs (a,b)(a, b) of real numbers such that
abn=ban a \cdot \lfloor b \cdot n \rfloor = b \cdot \lfloor a \cdot n \rfloor
for all positive integers nn.

Solution

Answer. The solutions are all pairs (a,b)(a, b) with a=0a = 0 or b=0b = 0 or a=ba = b or both aa and bb integers.

Let a0=aa_0 = \lfloor a \rfloor and aia_i be the binary digits of the fractional part of aa such that a=a0+i=1ai2ia = a_0 + \sum_{i=1}^{\infty} \frac{a_i}{2^i} with a0Za_0 \in \mathbb{Z} and ai{0,1}a_i \in \{0, 1\} for i1i \ge 1. Similarly, let b=b0+i=1bi2ib = b_0 + \sum_{i=1}^{\infty} \frac{b_i}{2^i} with b0Zb_0 \in \mathbb{Z} and bi{0,1}b_i \in \{0, 1\} for i1i \ge 1. In the case of a non-unique binary expansion, we choose the expansion ending on infinitely many zeros.
Now choose n=2kn = 2^k and m=2k1m = 2^{k-1} in the given equation. We get the equations
a(2kb0+i=1kbi2ki)=b(2ka0+i=1kai2ki),a(2k1b0+i=1k1bi2ki1)=b(2k1a0+i=1k1ai2ki1). \begin{aligned} a\left(2^k b_0 + \sum_{i=1}^k b_i 2^{k-i}\right) &= b\left(2^k a_0 + \sum_{i=1}^k a_i 2^{k-i}\right), \\ a\left(2^{k-1} b_0 + \sum_{i=1}^{k-1} b_i 2^{k-i-1}\right) &= b\left(2^{k-1} a_0 + \sum_{i=1}^{k-1} a_i 2^{k-i-1}\right). \end{aligned}
The first equation for k=0k = 0 and the difference of the first equation and the doubled second equation for k1k \ge 1 yields
abk=bak(1) ab_k = ba_k \tag{1}
for k0k \ge 0.
Now, we consider three cases. If one or both of aa and bb are zero, then the original equation is clearly satisfied. If both fractional parts are zero, then both numbers are integers and again, the original equation is satisfied. So, finally, we consider the case that a,b0a, b \ne 0 and that there is a k1k \ge 1 with ak=1a_k = 1. The equation (1) shows that bkb_k cannot be zero, so we get bk=1b_k = 1 and thus from the same equation a=ba = b. This clearly satisfies the original equation. (Of course, bk=1b_k = 1 leads to the same conclusion.) Therefore, the solutions are exactly the pairs listed in the answer.

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