English

Dilated floor functions having nonnegative commutator II. Negative dilations

Number Theory 2023-03-07 v2

Abstract

This paper completes the classification of the set SS of all real parameter pairs (α,β)(\alpha,\beta) such that the dilated floor functions fα(x)=αxf_\alpha(x) = \lfloor{\alpha x}\rfloor, fβ(x)=βxf_\beta(x) = \lfloor{\beta x}\rfloor have a nonnegative commutator, i.e. [fα,fβ](x)=αβxβαx0 [ f_{\alpha}, f_{\beta}](x) = \lfloor{\alpha \lfloor{\beta x}\rfloor}\rfloor - \lfloor{\beta \lfloor{\alpha x}\rfloor}\rfloor \geq 0 for all real xx. This paper treats the case where both dilation parameters α,β\alpha, \beta are negative. This result is equivalent to classifying all positive α,β\alpha, \beta satisfying αβxβαx0 \lfloor{\alpha \lceil{\beta x}\rceil}\rfloor - \lfloor{\beta \lceil{\alpha x}\rceil}\rfloor \geq 0 for all real xx. The classification analysis is connected with the theory of Beatty sequences and with the Diophantine Frobenius problem in two generators.

Cite

@article{arxiv.1907.09641,
  title  = {Dilated floor functions having nonnegative commutator II. Negative dilations},
  author = {Jeffrey C. Lagarias and D. Harry Richman},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1907.09641},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

18 pages, 8 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-23T10:27:49.194Z