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Algebra Difficulty 5.4 AIME, harder Prove it Croatia

For a positive integer kk, let ak=2kka_k = \lfloor \frac{2^k}{k} \rfloor. Prove that the sequence (ak)(a_k) contains infinitely many odd numbers.

(x\lfloor x \rfloor denotes the largest integer not greater than xx.)

Solution

Let k=34lk = 3 \cdot 4^l for an arbitrary positive integer ll. Then we have
ak=2kk=234l34l=234l2l3=234l2l13+13. a_k = \left\lfloor \frac{2^k}{k} \right\rfloor = \left\lfloor \frac{2^{3 \cdot 4^l}}{3 \cdot 4^l} \right\rfloor = \left\lfloor \frac{2^{3 \cdot 4^l - 2l}}{3} \right\rfloor = \left\lfloor \frac{2^{3 \cdot 4^l - 2l} - 1}{3} + \frac{1}{3} \right\rfloor.
Since the positive integer 34l2l3 \cdot 4^l - 2l is even, we have 234l2l41(mod3)2^{3 \cdot 4^l - 2l} \equiv 4 \equiv 1 \pmod 3, so the odd positive integer 234l2l12^{3 \cdot 4^l - 2l} - 1 is divisible by 33.
Therefore,
ak=2kk=234l2l13+13=234l2l13 a_k = \left\lfloor \frac{2^k}{k} \right\rfloor = \left\lfloor \frac{2^{3 \cdot 4^l - 2l} - 1}{3} + \frac{1}{3} \right\rfloor = \frac{2^{3 \cdot 4^l - 2l} - 1}{3}
is odd, which finishes the proof.

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