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algebra intermediate
Problem
How many distinct values of satisfy , where denotes the largest integer less than or equal to ?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
Solution
To further grasp at this equation, we rearrange the equation into Thus, is a perfect square and nonnegative. It is now much more apparent that and that is a solution. Additionally, by observing the RHS, as since squares grow quicker than linear functions. Now that we have narrowed down our search, we can simply test for intervals This intuition to use intervals stems from the fact that are observable integral solutions. Notice how there is only one solution per interval, as increases while stays the same. Finally, we see that does not work, however, through setting is a solution and within our domain of This provides us with solutions thus the final answer is
Final answer
B