Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 6.1 National olympiad Prove it

2. 21 Consider the representation of a real number xx in base 3. KK is the set of all such numbers xx in [0,1][0,1] whose digits are 0 or 2. If
S={x+yx,yK},S=\{x+y \mid x, y \in K\},

prove that:
S={z0z2}=[0,2]S=\{z \mid 0 \leqslant z \leqslant 2\}=[0,2]

Solution

[Proof] In KK, each digit of xx and yy is 0 or 2, so each digit of x2\frac{x}{2} and y2\frac{y}{2} is 0 or 1, and thus each digit of x2+y2\frac{x}{2}+\frac{y}{2} in base 3 is 0, 1, or 2, and by
x[0,1],y[0,1]x \in[0,1], y \in[0,1]

we know
x2+y2[0,1].\frac{x}{2}+\frac{y}{2} \in[0,1] .

Conversely, for any number in [0,1][0,1], each digit in base 3 is 0, 1, or 2, and it can clearly be written as the sum of two numbers whose digits in base 3 are 0 or 1. That is, it can be written in the form x2+y2,x,yK\frac{x}{2}+\frac{y}{2}, x, y \in K.

Therefore, we have
{x2+y2x,yK}=[0,1],\left\{\left.\frac{x}{2}+\frac{y}{2} \right\rvert\, x, y \in K\right\}=[0,1],

hence
S={x+yx,yK}=[0,2]S=\{x+y \mid x, y \in K\}=[0,2]

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Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.