Describing the real numbers in terms of integers. (Q2487028)

Let \((\mathbb{Z},+)\) be the additive group of integers. A map \(f\colon\mathbb{Z}\to\mathbb{Z}\) is called a `near-endomorphism' of \((\mathbb{Z},+)\) if the set \(D_f=\{f(a+b)-f(a)-f(b)\mid a,b\in\mathbb{Z}\}\) is finite. The set \(N\) of all near-endomorphisms of \((\mathbb{Z},+)\) is a subnearring of the nearring \((M(\mathbb{Z}),+,\circ)\) of all maps on \(\mathbb{Z}\). Let \(B\) be the set of all bounded maps on \(\mathbb{Z}\), i.e.\ the maps \(f\colon\mathbb{Z}\to\mathbb{Z}\) with finite image set \(f(\mathbb{Z})\). Then \(B\) is a nearring ideal of \(N\). In this article, the author constructs an isomorphism \(\lambda\) between the field \(\mathbb{R}\) of all real numbers and the quotient nearring \((N/B,+,\circ)\). Explicitly, for \(r\in\mathbb{R}\), \(\lambda(r)=f_r+B\), where \(f_r(a)=[ra]\) for all \(a\in\mathbb{Z}\).