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  1. At one point, it says, Thus it is enough to assume $m\in A$. Is that correct? I think they meant $f(m)$ instead of $m$.
  2. Secondly, there's another error where they claim $\lfloor f(m) \rfloor =k$. It's supposed to be $\left\lfloor \sqrt f(m) \right\rfloor =k$

DOUBTS :

  1. In the very last line they say This clearly implies that $f^{2j}= (k+j)^2$ but I don't find it quite trivial. Can "you" please explain this part?

I think that the floored part is $k$, then, $k+1$, then $k+2$, $\cdots$. But then $f^{2j}$ doesn't come similar to theirs.

Mathejunior
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2 Answers2

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They do mean the $f(m)\in A$, and this is unclear because of the poor choice of notation because in the definition of A and B, the author uses $m$ as an element of the sets, but $m$ had already been used as the starting number.

I believe you are right about your second error.

You can notice that the remainder of $f^2(m)$ that is not a square is $j-1$ which is one less than $j$, and $k$ increased by 1 to $k+1$. The idea is that every time 2 compositions of $f$ is applied, the remainder will decrease by 1 and the square will increase by 1, so $f^{2j}(m) = (k+j)^2 + 0$.

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They mean $m\in A.$ What they are saying is that it is enough to prove the theorem for numbers in $A.$ To do this, they reduce the case of a number in $B$ to the case of a number in $A$. So what they say is, "Suppose $m\in B.$ Then either $f(m)$ is a square, or $f(m)\in A.$ Now if the theorem is true for numbers in A then we know that one of $f^2(m), f^3(m),\dots$ is a square." Obviously if this is true, then one of $m, f(m), f^2(m), f^3(m),\dots$ is a square, so if we prove it for numbers in $A,$ it's also true for numbers in $B.$

This is too long-winded, but I can't seem to express it compactly at the moment.

saulspatz
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  • Why so? Why do you claim that if it's true for a number in $A$ then it's true for $f^2, f^3, \cdots$? Also, I don't find any reason to break it into the set $A$. is there any reason? I don't find any – Mathejunior Apr 07 '18 at 05:12
  • If $f(m)\in A$ and the theorem is true for number is $A$ then one of $f(m), f^2(m), \dots$ is a square. Isn't that what the theorem says? – saulspatz Apr 07 '18 at 05:18
  • @Mathbg The reason that it has to be in A is because if the number is in B, it can be rewritten so that it is an element in A. You can see that $k^2+j+k = (k+1)^2+j-k-1$. The first version of the expression would be in B, but the second version would be in A. – user2888499 Apr 07 '18 at 05:20