Integer part and fractional part of a real number

Important properties
(i) {x} [0, 1), x R; {x} = 0 x Z
(ii) x 1 < [x] x < [x] + 1, x R
(iii) [x + n] = [x] + n, x R, n Z
  h i
(iv) nx = [x]
, x R, n N
n
(v) [x] + [y] [x + y] [x] + [y] + 1, x, y R
(
0,
xZ
(vi) [x] + [x] =
1, x R \ Z

 



(vii) [x] + x + n1 + x + n2 + + x + n1
= [nx], x R, n N (Hermites
n
identity)
List of problems
   
1. Find the real solutions of the equation x2 + 2x
= x.
3
2. Find the real solutions of the equation [3x + 1] = 2x 12 .
for all n N, the following relation holds:

[ n + n + 1] = [ 4n + 2].
4. Find S =

502
P
k=1

3. Show that,

 305k 
.
503

5. Let a1 , a2 , . . . , an be positive integers smaller than 1951, such that the least
common multiple of each two is greater than 1951. Show that a11 + a12 + + a1n < 2.
6. How many different nonnegative integers are in the sequence
 2   2   2 


1
2
3
19802
,
,
,...,
?
1980
1980
1980
1980

Individual study
1. Solve the following equations:
(i) 2[x] = x + 2{x}
(ii) [x3 ] + [x2 ] + [x] = {x} 1
(iii) x +

92
x

= [x] +

92
[x]

2. Show that, if x, y R are such that [x + y] = [x] + [y] and [x y] =

[x] + [y], then at least one of x and y is integer.
3. Show that [xy] [x] [y], x, y R+ .
4. Show that [x y] [x] [y] [x y] + 1, x, y R+ .
5. Show that R is rational iff there exists k N such that [k] = k.
6. Let n N be fixed. How many solutions of the equation x2 [x2 ] = (x[x])2
are in the interval [1, n]?
References and supplementary reading
[1] D. Busneag, I. Maftei, Teme pentru cercurile si concursurile de matematica ale
elevilor, Ed. Scrisul romanesc, 1983.
[2] Xu Jiagu, Lecture Notes on Mathematical Olympiad Courses for Junior Section, Vol. 2, World Scientific Publishing, 2010.