A floor function problem

Algebra Level 3

x 2 + x 3 + x 5 = x \large \left \lfloor \frac{x}{2} \right \rfloor + \left \lfloor \frac{x}{3} \right \rfloor + \left \lfloor \frac{x}{5} \right \rfloor = x

Determine the number of real numbers x x satisfying the equation above.

Notation: \lfloor \cdot \rfloor denotes the floor function .


The answer is 30.

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1 solution

Mark Hennings
Aug 12, 2018

Any solution of the equation must be an integer. Any integer x x can be written uniquely as x = 30 m + k x=30m+k for integers m , k m,k where 0 k 29 0\le k \le 29 . The equation now becomes 31 m + k 2 + k 3 + k 5 = 30 m + k 31m + \big\lfloor \tfrac{k}{2}\big\rfloor + \big\lfloor\tfrac{k}{3}\big\rfloor +\big\lfloor\tfrac{k}{5}\big\rfloor = 30m + k so m = k k 2 k 3 k 5 m= k-\big\lfloor\tfrac{k}{2}\big\rfloor - \big\lfloor\tfrac{k}{3}\big\rfloor -\big\lfloor\tfrac{k}{5}\big\rfloor and we see that m m is uniquely determined by k k . Thus there is exactly one solution x x for each integer 0 k 29 0\le k\le 29 , and so there are 30 \boxed{30} solutions.

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