Floor function

Algebra Level 5

How many integers n n in the range 1 n 2017 1 \le n \le 2017 can be expressed as n = x 2 x \large n = \left \lfloor{x^2 \lfloor{x} \rfloor}\right \rfloor for some real x ? x?


The answer is 1368.

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1 solution

Filippo Olivetti
Jul 21, 2017

Let x = m + k x=m+k , with m m a positive integer and 0 k < 1 0 \le k < 1 .

Then, x 2 x = ( m 2 + k 2 + 2 m k ) ( m ) = m 3 + 2 k m 2 + m k 2 \left \lfloor{x^2 \cdot \left \lfloor{x}\right \rfloor}\right \rfloor =\left \lfloor{(m^2+k^2+2mk)(m)} \right \rfloor = m^3+ \left \lfloor{ 2km^2+mk^2 } \right \rfloor

Let f ( m ) = 2 k m 2 + m k 2 f(m) =2km^2+mk^2 be a parabula with k k a parameter. k = 0 k=0 is y = 0 y=0 . Reminding that the coefficient 2 k 2k fixes the concavity of the conic, let k k increase such that the parabula becomes slowly "tighter". Now, focus our attention on x = 2 x=2 , for instance, and define A ( 2 , y ) A (2,y) the point of intersection between the parabula and x = 2 x=2 . Then, increasing k k , the ordinate of A A assumes all values among 0 and a "limit" value given from k = 1 k=1 .

If k = 1 k=1 we get f ( m ) = 2 m 2 + m f(m) =2m^2+m : this is the function that gives us a "limit" interval for every m m . In fact, we are able to get all possible value ϵ \epsilon from the set: ϵ { m 3 + 0 , m 3 + 1 , . . . , m 3 + 2 m 2 + m 1 } \epsilon \in \{m^3+0, m^3+1, ..., m^3 + 2m^2+m-1 \} exploiting the fact that k k is a real number ( m 3 + 2 m 2 + m m^3 + 2m^2+m can't be obtained since k < 1 k<1 from hypothesis).

Every set is made of 2 m 2 + m 2m^2+m elements. Since 1 2 3 < 2017 < 1 3 3 12^3 < 2017 < 13^3 , the answer to our problem is: m = 1 12 ( 2 m 2 + m ) 10 = 2 12 13 25 6 + 12 13 2 10 = 1368 \sum_{m=1} ^{12} (2m^2+m)-10 = 2 \cdot \frac{12 \cdot 13 \cdot 25}{6}+\frac{12 \cdot 13}{2}-10 = \boxed{1368}

10 -10 since the last 10 number are greater than 2017.

@Calvin Lin Could you change the answer to 1378?

Filippo Olivetti - 3 years, 10 months ago

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Thanks. I've updated the answer to 1378.

Brilliant Mathematics Staff - 3 years, 10 months ago

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