Dunno leave Loopholes

Algebra Level 4

f ( x ) = { x } + 1 { x } \Large \color{#3D99F6}{f(x)=\{ x \} +\dfrac{1}{ \{ x \}}}

Find the minimum value of f ( x ) \color{#3D99F6}{f(x)} .

Note: { x } \{x\} denotes the fractional part of x x , so 0 { x } < 1 0 \leq \{x\} < 1 .


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0 -\infty -1 1 Can't be determined exactly. 2 -2

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5 solutions

Rohit Ner
May 20, 2015

Applying AM-GM we get

f ( x ) 2 { x } { x } \frac { f\left( x \right) }{ 2 } \ge \sqrt { \frac { \left\{ x \right\} }{ \left\{ x \right\} } }

f ( x ) 2 { x } { x } f\left( x \right) \ge 2\sqrt { \frac { \left\{ x \right\} }{ \left\{ x \right\} } }

Since { x } { x } \frac { \left\{ x \right\} }{ \left\{ x \right\} } is undefined for x Z x\in \mathbb Z , the minimum value of f ( x ) f(x) can't be determined for x R x\in \mathbb R .

Moderator note:

Good. Bonus question: What would the answer be if I add a constraint stating that " x x cannot be an integer"?

There's no I \mathbb I , it should be Z \mathbb Z .

Pi Han Goh - 6 years ago

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Thank you for pointing it out.

Rohit Ner - 6 years ago

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Why must x be an integer?

Joel Tan - 6 years ago

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@Joel Tan Its not that x x must be an integer, it simply means that if x x is an integer, { x } { x } \frac { \left\{ x \right\} }{ \left\{ x \right\} } = 0 0 \frac { 0 }{ 0 } i.e. an indeterminate form.

Rohit Ner - 6 years ago

For the Challenge Master question: I don't understand. f(x)=undefined when x is an integer so the same proof(that i have given below) follows. I mean, they were never under consideration were they??????????

Chandrachur Banerjee - 6 years ago

@Calvin Lin We can say that the minimum tends to 2 2 and not exactly 2 2 , so it is not uniquely determined.

Ankit Kumar Jain - 4 years, 2 months ago

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Thanks, I've updated it to "infimum" instead.

Calvin Lin Staff - 4 years, 2 months ago

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Sir , but adding the term infinum value will make the answer 2 2 , so the term minimum was fine out there.

I wrote that comment over the bonus question , that if x R x \in {\mathbb R} , then we can't achieve any minimum value rather it would be a infinum value = 2 = 2 .

Ankit Kumar Jain - 4 years, 2 months ago

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@Ankit Kumar Jain Note that the minimum is never achieved because we do not have { x } = 1 \{ x \} = 1 .

That's why we made the comment of "add a constraint ..." to further highlight the issue (but never cleaned up the problem until now).

Calvin Lin Staff - 4 years, 2 months ago

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@Calvin Lin There is no such minimum , but it is just tending to 2 2 , so we called it infinum. And as for the question , since earlier it demanded minimum , so the answer was simply ' Can't be determined ' but now since it has been changed to infinum , the answer would be ' 2 2 '.

So you can revert the changes to make the problem correct in accordance with the answer.

Ankit Kumar Jain - 4 years, 2 months ago

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@Ankit Kumar Jain Oh ic. I was confused. I thought the answer was supposed to be 2, and didn't read carefully.

I have reverted the change. Thanks for following up and ensuring that the problem is correct :)

Calvin Lin Staff - 4 years, 2 months ago

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@Calvin Lin @Calvin Lin Thanks! :) :)

Ankit Kumar Jain - 4 years, 2 months ago

{x} belongs to [0,1).f(x) is undefined when {x}=0.So we are essentially asked to find min of x+1/x when 0<x<1 . Now f'(x)=1-1/x^2 . It is easy to see this is negative for 0<x<1. So this is a monotonically decreasing function in this open interval.So it will take the minimum value when x=the greatest number in this interval which does not exist(as this is an open interval of R )

Moderator note:

Yes, this is the calculus approach. Though it would be better to solve this by simple algebra.

Naman Kapoor
May 20, 2015

We just have to use common sense instead of A.M-G.M inequality because fractional part can be 0.1,0.0001,0.00000000000.........1,

Hence the value of given expression can not be determined

Moderator note:

Your solution makes no sense whatsoever. Even if you check for { x } = 0.1 , 0.0001 , 0.00000000000 1 \{ x \} = 0.1,0.0001,0.00000000000\ldots 1 , you have only shown that f ( x ) f(x) becomes more and more for certain values of { x } \{ x \} . But you didn't prove that a minimum value is not possible.

Arian Tashakkor
May 20, 2015

Well this is how I did it .

Let { x } = p q \{x\} = \frac {p}{q} where g c d ( p , q ) = 1 gcd(p,q) = 1 and q > p q > p hence follows that :

\quad

1 { x } = q p { x } + 1 { x } = p q + q p = p 2 + q 2 p q \frac {1} { \{x\} } = \frac {q}{p}\rightarrow \{x\} + \frac {1} { \{x\} } =\frac {p}{q}+\frac {q}{p} = \frac {p^2+q^2}{pq}

\quad

Now,by false assumption, let's suppose there exists a lower limit for the expression.That limit has to be 2 2 why? Because p 2 + q 2 p q 2 \frac {p^2+q^2}{pq} \ge 2

\quad

But if the limit exists then we must have :

( p q ) 2 = 0 p = q (p-q)^2 = 0 \rightarrow p = q Which contradicts q > p q > p and hence the lower limit cannot be reached.

Moderator note:

As Joel Tan has pointed out, this solution is wrong. You couldn't simply assume that it must be rational. If so, then π 3 \pi - 3 is a rational number which is clearly absurd.

No one said x was rational.

Joel Tan - 6 years ago

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And neither did I!If you would have read the question thoroughly you'd understand that { x } \{x\} denotes the fractional part of x x and is thus , a rational number in the interval [ 0 , 1 ) [0,1)

Arian Tashakkor - 6 years ago

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I think you've misunderstood the definition of the fractional part function. { x } = x x \{x\}=x-\lfloor x \rfloor So, x {x} need not be rational.

Raj Magesh - 6 years ago
Nishu Sharma
May 19, 2015

nice trap , for person who did not check equality condition after using AM-GM inequalty...

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