Skip to main content
OlympiadHQ

Browse · MATH

Print

jmc

algebra senior

Problem

Let be a function taking the integers to the integers such that for all integers and

Let be the number of possible values of and let be the sum of all possible values of Find
Solution
Setting we get If then is equal to some constant, say Then which has no integer solutions. Therefore, and then

Setting we get Let ; then Since and Setting we get Then which simplifies to This factors as Hence,

Setting and we get Then Checking and we find that the only value that works is

Hence, The first few values are and so on. By a straight-forward induction argument, for all integers

We can check that this function works. Therefore, and so
Final answer
5