Problem

Source: ISL 2019 N6

Tags: number theory, IMO Shortlist, IMO Shortlist 2019, floor function



Let $H = \{ \lfloor i\sqrt{2}\rfloor : i \in \mathbb Z_{>0}\} = \{1,2,4,5,7,\dots \}$ and let $n$ be a positive integer. Prove that there exists a constant $C$ such that, if $A\subseteq \{1,2,\dots, n\}$ satisfies $|A| \ge C\sqrt{n}$, then there exist $a,b\in A$ such that $a-b\in H$. (Here $\mathbb Z_{>0}$ is the set of positive integers, and $\lfloor z\rfloor$ denotes the greatest integer less than or equal to $z$.)