The University of Western Australia SCHOOL OF MATHEMATICS & STATISTICS MATHEMATICAL OLYMPIADS LECTURE NOTES

The Floor or Integer Part function

Greg Gamble

Denition
Every real number x can be written in exactly one way as x = n + z, where n Z and 0 z < 1. We call n the integer part or oor of x and denote it by [n] or n ; and z is called the fractional part of x and is denoted by {x}. Thus for x R, x is the greatest integer not exceeding x.

The fractional part of x is commonly thought of as the part after the decimal point, but this notion is only correct for positive x. We dene the fractional part by for x R, {x} = x x .

The notation x and term oor are supposed to emphasise that x x. In fact, the term integer part leaves a sense of ambiguity when applied to negative real numbers while the term oor does not. There is also a ceiling function: for x R the ceiling of x, denoted by x is dened by x is the least integer not less than x. Hence x = x= x x +1 if x Z if x Z. /

The notation x and term ceiling are supposed to emphasise that x x.

Properties
For x, y R we have the following properties: 1. x = x + {x} 2. x = x x Z

3. x = {x} 0 x < 1 4. x 1 < x x

5. If k Z then x+k = x +k {x + k} = {x} 6. x + y x y is 0 or 1 and hence x+y x + y {x + y} {x} + {y} since . . . By Property 4., x+y1< x1< y1< So 1< x+y x+y x x, (i.e. x x < x + 1) y y, (i.e. y y < y + 1) x + y x y < 2.

But x + y x y Z. So x + y x y is 0 or 1. Hence x + y x y 0 i.e. x+y x + y . Applying Property 1 to the last inequality gives {x + y} {x} + {y} .

Additional properties
Suppose 0 < R and n N . Then the oor function has the following additional properties. n is the number of positive integer multiples of not exceeding 7. If > 0 and n N then n, since . . . > 0. So for some N, each of , 2, . . . , is less than or equal to n, and each of ( + 1), ( + 2), . . . is greater than n. That is, n < ( + 1) n So < + 1, (since > 0). Hence n. = n is the number of positive integer multiples of not exceeding