Welcome 2016! Part 28

Algebra Level 5

How many integers n n with 1 n 100 1 \le n \le 100 can be written in the form n = x + 2 x + 3 x n=\lfloor x \rfloor +\lfloor 2x \rfloor + \lfloor 3x \rfloor , where x x is a real number?


The answer is 67.

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1 solution

Zk Lin
Jan 5, 2016

Let x = y + a x=y+a , where y y is the integer part while a a is the decimal part of x x .

Note that for 0 < a < 1 3 0<a<\frac{1}{3} , x + 2 x + 3 x = ( y ) + ( 2 y ) + ( 3 y ) \lfloor x \rfloor\ + \lfloor 2x \rfloor + \lfloor 3x \rfloor = (y) + (2y) + (3y) , which sums to 6 y 6y .

For 1 3 a < 1 2 \frac{1}{3} \leq a < \frac{1}{2} , x + 2 x + 3 x = ( y ) + ( 2 y ) + ( 3 y + 1 ) \lfloor x \rfloor\ + \lfloor 2x \rfloor + \lfloor 3x \rfloor = (y) + (2y) + (3y+1) , which sums to 6 y + 1 6y+1 .

For 1 2 a < 2 3 \frac{1}{2} \leq a < \frac{2}{3} , x + 2 x + 3 x = ( y ) + ( 2 y + 1 ) + ( 3 y + 1 ) \lfloor x \rfloor\ + \lfloor 2x \rfloor + \lfloor 3x \rfloor = (y) + (2y+1) + (3y+1) , which sums to 6 y + 2 6y+2 .

For 2 3 a < 1 \frac{2}{3} \leq a < 1 , x + 2 x + 3 x = ( y ) + ( 2 y + 1 ) + ( 3 y + 2 ) \lfloor x \rfloor\ + \lfloor 2x \rfloor + \lfloor 3x \rfloor = (y) + (2y+1) + (3y+2) , which sums to 6 y + 3 6y+3 .

From above, it is apparent that every integer in the form of 6 y , 6 y + 1 , 6 y + 2 6y, 6y+1, 6y+2 and 6 y + 3 6y+3 can be represented as required while integers of the form 6 y + 4 6y+4 and 6 y + 5 6y+5 cannot be represented.

A quick computation reveals that there are 67 \boxed{67} such integers.

Moderator note:

Great explanation.

Isn't it interesting that we cannot reach the values of the form 6 y + 4 , 6 y + 5 6y + 4, 6y + 5 ? Can you come up with a short explanation for why that's the case?

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