Does there exist a function , , such that
for all real .
(Here stands for the fractional part of .)
Solution
Assume that there exists a function satisfying the problem condition:
for all real .
Replacing by in the first equality, we obtain
Since , from the obtained equality it follows that . So .
Replacing by , we have . Since and , we see that the left-hand side of the last equality is negative, whereas the right-hand side is nonnegative, a contradiction.
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