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Algebra Difficulty 5.9 AIME, harder Prove it Vietnam

Given a sequence of real numbers (xn)(x_n)
x1=3andxn=n+23n(xn1+2),n2. x_1 = 3 \quad \text{and} \quad x_n = \frac{n+2}{3n}(x_{n-1} + 2), \quad \forall n \ge 2.
Prove that the sequence has a finite limit as nn \to \infty and calculate this limit.

Solution

For n1n \ge 1, we have
xn+1xn=(n+33(n+1)1)xn+2(n+3)3(n+1)=23(n+1)(n+3nxn).(1) x_{n+1} - x_n = \left(\frac{n+3}{3(n+1)} - 1\right)x_n + \frac{2(n+3)}{3(n+1)} = \frac{2}{3(n+1)}(n+3 - nx_n). \quad (1)
We first prove that
xn>1+3nn2.(2) x_n > 1 + \frac{3}{n} \quad \forall n \ge 2. \quad (2)
The proof proceeds by induction on nn. For n=2n=2 we have
x2=46(3+2)=103>1+32. x_2 = \frac{4}{6}(3+2) = \frac{10}{3} > 1 + \frac{3}{2}.
Suppose that xk>1+3kx_k > 1 + \frac{3}{k} for some k2k \ge 2, then we have
xk+1=k+33(k+1)(xk+2)>k+33(k+1)(1+3k+2)=1+3k+1. x_{k+1} = \frac{k+3}{3(k+1)}(x_k + 2) > \frac{k+3}{3(k+1)}\left(1 + \frac{3}{k} + 2\right) = 1 + \frac{3}{k+1}.
Thus, (2) is proved. From (1) and (2), we have
xn>xn+1>1,n2. x_n > x_{n+1} > 1, \quad \forall n \ge 2.
Therefore, (xn)(x_n) is a decreasing sequence for n2n \ge 2 and is bounded by 1. This implies that (xn)(x_n) has a finite limit. Now, we can easily find this limit by solving the equation
x=13(x+2), x = \frac{1}{3}(x+2),
which implies that the limit is 1.

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