2016 AMC 10B Problem 25
Problem 25 of 25HarderAlgebraNumber Theory
Let where denotes the greatest integer less than or equal to How many distinct values does assume for
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Solution
Write , where . Then so depends only on the fractional part .
The value of changes only when crosses a fraction , where and . The number of distinct such fractions in is
Including the initial value before the first breakpoint, assumes distinct values.
Thus, the correct answer is A.