Online Course Discussion Forum
MCIII Number Theory 3.9
Hello,
I am a little bit stuck on this problem. Here are my steps so far: (floor(x)=[x])
x^2-1<floor(x^2)≤x^2
x^2-1<([x]^2)≤x^2
-1<[x]^2-x^2≤0
Also, x-1<[x]≤x
(x-1)^2=x^2-2x+1<[x]^2≤x^2
-2x+1<[x]^2-x^2≤x^2
What am I supposed to do next?
Thanks,
Tina Jin
For questions involving $\lfloor x \rfloor$, it is sometimes easier to fix this floor value, because as the integer part of $x$, one integer corresponds to infinitely many $x$. Before using algebra to solve anything, try a few small numbers for $\lfloor x\rfloor$.
This problem requires that $x\ge 0$, so it means $\lfloor x\rfloor \geq 0$. What if $\lfloor x\rfloor = 0$? The equation becomes $$\lfloor x^2 \rfloor = 0.$$ This means $0\leq x^2 < 1$, and thus $0\leq x < 1$.
Now what if $\lfloor x \rfloor = 1$? The equation becomes $$\lfloor x^2 \rfloor = 1,$$ and so $1 \leq x^2 < 2$, which means $1\leq x < \sqrt{2}$.
So, in general, we can let $\lfloor x\rfloor = n$, and solve it in terms of $n$. The full solution includes all these separate intervals.
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