Let a1,a2,…,an be a beautiful sequence of length n. Take an integer m such that am=2025. Then m≥2 since a1=0.
We first prove n≤13. Let t be an integer with 1≤t≤n−2. By applying the third condition to (i,j,k)=(t,t+1,n), we obtain
2at+an≤at+1,
which implies
an−at≥2(an−at+1).
If m=n, repeatedly applying this inequality gives
2025=an−a1≥2(an−a2)≥⋯≥2n−2(an−an−1)≥2n−2,
and hence n≤12. If m<n, we have
an−a1≥2(an−a2)≥⋯≥2m−2(an−am−1)≥2m−1(an−am),
and
an−am≥2(an−am+1)≥22(an−am+2)≥⋯≥2n−m−1(an−an−1)≥2n−m−1.
2025=am−a1=(an−a1)−(an−am)≥(2m−1−1)(an−am)≥(2m−1−1)2n−m−1≥2m−2⋅2n−m−1=2n−3
(*)
and so we obtain n≤13.
Let n=13. Then the above argument shows n>m. From (∗), we have
2025 ≥(2m−1−1)2n−m−1=2n−2−2n−m−1=211−212−m,
whichimplies$212−m≥23$,andhence$212−m≥32$.Therefore,
a_n = a_m + (a_n - a_m) ≥ a_m + 2n−m−1 = 2025 + 212−m≥ 2057.
Thus,wehave$an≥2057$when$n=13$.Finally,weshowthatthesequence
(a_1, a_2, …,a13) = (0, 1033, 1545, 1801, 1929, 1993, 2025, 2041, 2049, 2053, 2055, 2056, 2057)
is a beautiful sequence of length 13. The first and second conditions are clearly satisfied. We now verify the third condition. We have
(a13 - a_1, a13 - a_2, …,a13−a12) = (2057, 1024, 512, 256, 128, 64, 32, 16, 8, 4, 2, 1),
soforallintegers$t$with$1≤t≤11$,wehave$a13−at≥2(a13−at+1)$.Therefore,forallintegers$1≤i<j<k≤13$,wehave
aj−2ai+ak≥aj−2ai+a13=2(a13−ai)−2(a13−aj)≥2(a13−ai)−(a13−aj−1)=2aj−1−ai≥0.
This confirms the third condition.
Therefore, the maximum value of the length of a beautiful sequence is 13 and for beautiful sequences a1,a2,…,a13 of length 13, the minimum value of a13 is 2057.