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Algebra Difficulty 5.9 AIME, harder Prove it Ukraine

Solve the equation:
cosπx=[x2[x2]12]. \cos \pi x = \left[ \frac{x}{2} - \left[ \frac{x}{2} \right] - \frac{1}{2} \right].

Here [a][a] stands for the greatest integer number that does not exceed aa.

Solution

Answer: x=32+2n,nZx = \frac{3}{2} + 2n, n \in \mathbb{Z}.

Since a[a]={a}a - [a] = \{a\}, where {a}\{a\} is the fractional part of aa, we can rewrite our equation in the following way:
cosπx=[{x}212]. \cos \pi x = \left[ \frac{\{x\}}{2} - \frac{1}{2} \right].
Obviously, 0{x}2<10 \leq \frac{\{x\}}{2} < 1 for every real xx. Consider two cases:

1) Let 0{x}2<120 \leq \frac{\{x\}}{2} < \frac{1}{2}. Then 12{x}212<0-\frac{1}{2} \leq \frac{\{x\}}{2} - \frac{1}{2} < 0, and thus [{x}212]=1[\frac{\{x\}}{2} - \frac{1}{2}] = -1. So in this case we get the equation cosπx=1\cos \pi x = -1. The solutions of this equation are x=1+2k,kZx = 1 + 2k, k \in \mathbb{Z}. But for such xx we have that {x2}={12+k}=12\{\frac{x}{2}\} = \{\frac{1}{2} + k\} = \frac{1}{2}, which contradicts our assumption. So, we obtain that there are no solutions in this case.

2) Let 12{x}2<1\frac{1}{2} \leq \frac{\{x\}}{2} < 1. Then 0{x}212<120 \leq \frac{\{x\}}{2} - \frac{1}{2} < \frac{1}{2}, which implies that [{x}212]=0[\frac{\{x\}}{2} - \frac{1}{2}] = 0. So, in this case our equation reduces to the equation cosπx=0\cos \pi x = 0. The solutions for this equation are x=12+kx = \frac{1}{2} + k, kZk \in \mathbb{Z}. For such xx we have:
{x212={14+k12={14,k=2n,34,k=2n+1. \begin{cases} \frac{x}{2} \\ \frac{1}{2} \end{cases} = \begin{cases} \frac{1}{4} + k \\ \frac{1}{2} \end{cases} = \begin{cases} \frac{1}{4}, & k = 2n, \\ \frac{3}{4}, & k = 2n+1. \end{cases}
So, for 12{x}2<1\frac{1}{2} \leq \frac{\{x\}}{2} < 1 we should take k=1+2nk = 1 + 2n, nZn \in \mathbb{Z}. Therefore, x=32+2nx = \frac{3}{2} + 2n, nZn \in \mathbb{Z}.

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