Let denote the floor function. For nonnegative integers and , their [i]bitwise xor[/i], denoted , is the unique nonnegative integer such that is even for every . Find all positive integers such that for any integers , we have
[i]Carl Schildkraut[/i]
Let denote the floor function. For nonnegative integers and , their [i]bitwise xor[/i], denoted , is the unique nonnegative integer such that is even for every . Find all positive integers such that for any integers , we have
[i]Carl Schildkraut[/i]
Let denote the floor function. For nonnegative integers and , their bitwise xor, denoted , is the unique nonnegative integer such that
is even for every . We aim to find all positive integers such that for any integers , we have
To solve this, we consider two cases based on the parity of :
1. **Case 1: is even**
Suppose is even. Then for some integer . Consider and such that . We have:
Since is even, is also even. The bitwise xor operation with an even number does not change the parity of the number of 1's in the binary representation. Therefore, and will have the same parity, leading to a contradiction. Hence, for even, it is not possible to satisfy the given condition.
2. **Case 2: is odd**
Suppose is odd. Then for some integer . Consider and for sufficiently large . We have:
Since is odd, the bitwise xor operation with an odd number will change the parity of the number of 1's in the binary representation. Therefore, and will not have the same parity, satisfying the given condition.
Thus, the only positive integers that satisfy the given condition are the odd integers.
The answer is: \boxed{\text{All odd positive integers}}.