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Algebra Difficulty 7.7 National olympiad, round 2 Find the answer

Let KK be the set of all positive integers that do not contain the digit 77 in their base- 1010 representation. Find all polynomials ff with nonnegative integer coefficients such that f(n)Kf(n)\in K whenever nKn\in K .

A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.

Solution

I claim the only such polynomials are of the form f(n)=kf(n)=k where kKk\in K , or f(n)=an+bf(n)=an+b where aa is a power of 10, bKb\in K , and b<ab<a . Obviously, these polynomials satisfy the conditions. We now prove that no other polynomial works. That is, we prove that for any other polynomial ff with nonnegative coefficients, there is some nKn\in K such that f(n)Kf(n)\notin K .
We first prove the result for monomials, polynomials in which only one coefficient is nonzero. This is obvious for constant polynomials f(n)=kKf(n)=k\notin K . The next simplest case is f(n)=anf(n)=an with aa not a power of 10, and hence lga\lg a is irrational. By Dirichlet's approximation theorem, the set of multiples of lga\lg a is dense mod 1\bmod\ 1 , and thus contains an element with fractional part in the interval [lg7,lg8)[\lg 7,\lg 8) . In other words, there is a power of aa whose decimal expansion starts with a 7. Let axa^x be the smallest power of aa that is not in KK . Obviously, x>0x>0 , so letting n=ax1n=a^{x-1} completes the proof of this part.
We have now proven that for any aa that is not a power of 10, there is some nKn\in K such that anKan\notin K . We proceed to the case where f(n)=anxf(n)=an^x for x>1x>1 . This splits into 2 cases. If axax is not a power of 10, then pick mKm\in K such that axmKaxm\notin K . For any yy , we have f(10y+m)=a10yx+axm10y(x1)+...+amxf(10^y+m)=a10^{yx}+axm*10^{y(x-1)}+...+am^x If we choose yy to be large enough, then the terms in the expression above will not interfere with each other, and the resulting number will contain a 7 in the decimal expansion, and thus not be in KK .
On the other hand, if axax is a power of 10, then aa and xx are both powers of 10, and x10x\ge10 . Obviously, 12ax(x1)\frac12ax(x-1) is not a power of 10. By the previous step, which establishes the result for x=2x=2 , we can pick mKm\in K such that 12ax(x1)m2K\frac12ax(x-1)m^2\notin K . Then, for any yy , f(10y+m)=a10yx+axm10y(x1)+12ax(x1)m210y(x2)+...+amxf(10^y+m)=a10^{yx}+axm*10^{y(x-1)}+\frac12ax(x-1)m^2*10^{y(x-2)}+...+am^x Similarly, picking a sufficient large yy settles this case.
Now, we extend our proof to general polynomials. If a polynomial f(n)=a0+a1n+a2n2+...+axnxf(n)=a_0+a_1n+a_2n^2+...+a_xn^x satisfies the conditions of the problem, then for any m,y>0m,y>0 : f(m10y)=axmx10yx+...+a1m10y+a0f(m*10^y)=a_xm^x*10^{yx}+...+a_1m*10^y+a_0 Similarly, choosing yy to be sufficiently large results in the terms not interfering with each other. If ff contains any monomials that do not satisfy the conditions of the problem, then picking suitable mm and sufficiently large yy causes f(m10y)f(m*10^y) to not be in KK . Thus, ff is a linear polynomial of the form ax+bax+b where aa is 0 or a power of 10, and bKb\in K . It suffices to rule out those polynomials where a>0a>0 and b>ab>a . If this is the case, then since the digit of bb corresponding to aa is not 7, there must be a single-digit number nn such that the digit of f(n)f(n) corresponding to aa is 7. Therefore, we are done.
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