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Algebra Difficulty 7.5 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Romania

Given a positive integer nn and the function f:NNf: \mathbb{N} \to \mathbb{N} described by
f(x)={x/2,if x is even(x1)/2+2n1,if x is odd. f(x) = \begin{cases} x/2 & , \text{if } x \text{ is even} \\ (x-1)/2 + 2^{n-1} & , \text{if } x \text{ is odd} \end{cases}.
Determine the set A={xN(fffn times f)(x)=x}A = \{x \in \mathbb{N} \mid (\underbrace{f \circ f \circ \dots \circ f}_{n \text{ times } f})(x) = x\}.

Solution

As for x{0,1,,2n1}x \in \{0, 1, \dots, 2^n - 1\} we have f(x){0,1,,2n1}f(x) \in \{0, 1, \dots, 2^n - 1\}, and for x2nx \ge 2^n we have f(x)<xf(x) < x, we get f(x)max(x,2n1)f(x) \le \max(x, 2^n - 1). It follows that if xAx \in A, then
x=f[n](x)max(f[n1](x),2n1)max(f(x),2n1). x = f^{[n]}(x) \le \max(f^{[n-1]}(x), 2^n - 1) \le \dots \le \max(f(x), 2^n - 1).
If x2nx \ge 2^n, then xf(x)x \le f(x), a contradiction, thus AA is contained in {0,1,,2n1}\{0, 1, \dots, 2^n - 1\}.

We shall prove the equality A={0,1,,2n1}A = \{0, 1, \dots, 2^n - 1\}. We give two proofs for the reverse inclusion.

i.
From f(2n1)=2n1f(2^n - 1) = 2^n - 1 deduce 2n1A2^n - 1 \in A. As 2f(x){x,x+2n1}2f(x) \in \{x, x+2^n-1\}, 2f(x)2f(x) is congruent to xx modulo 2n12^n - 1. Inductively, x2nf[n](x)f(x)(mod2n1)x \equiv 2^n f^{[n]}(x) \equiv f(x) \pmod{2^n - 1}. Because f(x)<2n1f(x) < 2^n - 1 for x<2n1x < 2^n - 1, we obtain f[n](x)=xf^{[n]}(x) = x if x{0,1,,2n2}x \in \{0, 1, \dots, 2^n - 2\}.

ii.
Use base 2 to represent any number in x{0,1,,2n1}x \in \{0, 1, \dots, 2^n - 1\} using nn digits, putting zero at the beginning, if necessary. To obtain f(x)f(x) from xx one has to move the last digit of xx on the first position. After nn movements the digits of xx are at the same places as at the beginning, that is f[n](x)=xf^{[n]}(x) = x.

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