Given a function f for which f ( x ) = f ( 3 9 8 − x ) = f ( 2 1 5 8 − x ) = f ( 3 2 1 4 − x ) holds for all real x , what is the largest number of different values that can appear in the list f ( 0 ) , f ( 1 ) , f ( 2 ) , … , f ( 9 9 9 ) ?
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can you give some clarity in the last part ??? 200 to 351 ... why is that repeated ??
Why f(x) = f(46-x)?
I'll try to give a somewhat general solution here. Let a < b < c be distinct positive integers and f be a function defined on integers such that for every integer x , f ( x ) = f ( a − x ) = f ( b − x ) = f ( c − x ) . We would like to know the cardinal of the image of f .
For every integer x , f ( x ) = f ( b − x ) = f ( a − b + x ) and likewise f ( x ) = f ( b − c + x ) = f ( c − a + x ) . Therefore, we can add or substract a − b , b − c , c − a to x without changing its image through f .
Let d = g c d ( a − b , b − c , c − a ) and e = a m o d d = b m o d d = c m o d d . For every relative integer k , it follows that f ( x ) = f ( k d + x ) = f ( e + k d − x ) and f is periodic. Let f − 1 { f ( x ) } the set of all inverse images of f ( x ) . f − 1 { f ( x ) } contains therefore x , e − x , d + x , e + d − x , …
Assuming the cardinal of the image set of f is maximal, and e ≤ d for x = ⌊ ( e + 1 ) / 2 ⌋ , … , ⌊ ( e + d ) / 2 ⌋ we have distinct (disjoint) f − 1 { f ( x ) } (look at x , e − x , d + x , e + d − x , other values won't interfere). Therefore, in this case, the total number of (disjoint) sets f − 1 { f ( x ) } is ⌊ ( e + d ) / 2 ⌋ − ⌊ ( e + 1 ) / 2 ⌋ + 1 .
Plugging in a = 3 9 8 , b = 2 1 5 8 , c = 3 2 1 4 yields d = 3 5 2 , e = 4 6 and therefore there are 1 7 7 different values for f ( x ) with x = 0 , … , 9 9 9 ( 1 0 0 0 ≥ d ).
Not easy to write down formally though.
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f ( 2 1 5 8 − x ) = f ( x ) f ( 3 9 8 − x ) = f ( x ) = f ( 3 2 1 4 − ( 2 1 5 8 − x ) ) = f ( 2 1 5 8 − ( 3 9 8 − x ) ) = f ( 1 0 5 6 + x ) = f ( 1 7 6 0 + x ) Since g c d ( 1 0 5 6 , 1 7 6 0 ) = 3 5 2 we can conclude that (by the Euclidean algorithm)
f ( x ) = f ( 3 5 2 + x ) So we need only to consider one period f ( 0 ) , f ( 1 ) , . . . f ( 3 5 1 ) , which can have at most 3 5 2 distinct values which determine the value of f ( x ) at all other integers.
But we also know that f ( x ) = f ( 4 6 − x ) = f ( 3 9 8 − x ) , so the values x = 2 4 , 2 5 , . . . 4 6 and x = 2 0 0 , 2 0 1 , . . . 3 5 1 are repeated. This gives a total of
3 5 2 − ( 4 6 − 2 4 + 1 ) − ( 3 5 1 − 2 0 0 + 1 ) = 1 7 7 distinct values.