A flea moves in the positive direction on the real Ox axis, starting from the origin. He can only jump over distances equal with or . Prove that there exists such that the flea can reach any interval with .
Solution
1. Assume the contrary: Suppose there does not exist an such that the flea can reach any interval with . This means there are infinitely many intervals that the flea cannot jump into.
2. Define sequences: Let be the infimum of these intervals. Since there are infinitely many such intervals, .
3. Greatest reachable point: Let be the greatest number of the form (where ) such that . Clearly, .
4. **Representation of **: We can write for some . Since , at least one of or must tend to infinity. Without loss of generality, assume .
5. Density argument: Since , by a form of Kronecker's theorem, the set is dense in . Therefore, we can choose and such that .
6. **Choosing **: Since , we can choose such that . Hence, is a position where the flea can jump.
7. Analyzing the jump:
- If , then , which contradicts our assumption that the flea cannot land in .
- If , then , which contradicts the fact that is the greatest number of the form less than .
8. Conclusion: Both cases lead to a contradiction, so our initial assumption must be false. Therefore, there exists such that the flea can reach any interval with .