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Does there exist a bijection $f:\mathbb{N}\to\mathbb{N}$ such that $\vert f(n) - f(n+1)\vert = n\ \forall\ n\in\mathbb{N}?$

(If this was $f:\mathbb{N}\to\mathbb{Z}$ then this would be trivial: $0,1,-1,2,-2,3,-3,\ldots .$)

The greedy algorithm starting at $1$ doesn't work. Curiously, we get:

$$1,2,4,7,3,8,14,21,13,22,12,23,11,24,10,25,9,26,44,63,43,64,42,19,$$

but then we cannot continue.

Maybe there is a strategy to answer this question, but I do not see anything straight away.

Some ideas here are possibly useful, in particular the idea of blocks.

Adam Rubinson
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0 Answers0