AlgebraDifficulty 6.0AIME, harderProve itUnited States
Problem:
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern play a game in which they repeatedly flip a fair coin. Let a1=4, a2=3, and an=an−1+an−2 for all n≥3. On the nth flip, if the coin is heads, Rosencrantz pays Guildenstern an dollars, and, if the coin is tails, Guildenstern pays Rosencrantz an dollars. If play continues for 2010 turns, what is the probability that Rosencrantz ends up with more money than he started with?
Solution
Solution:
Answer: 21−213411
Since Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have an equal chance of winning each toss, both have the same probability of ending up with a positive amount of money. Let x denote the probability that they both end up with zero dollars. We wish to find 21−x.
We have x is equal to the probability that s2010:=i1a1+i2a2+⋯+i2010a2010=0 where in has an equal probability of being either 1 or −1.
We claim that s2010=0 if and only if i3n=−i3n−1=−i3n−2 for all n≤670. We start with the following lemma.
Lemma. We have an>∑k=1n−3ak for all n≥4.
Proof: For the case n=4, a4=a3+a2=2a2+a1>a1. In case n>4, we have an=an−2+an−1>an−2+k=1∑n−4ak=an−4+k=1∑n−3ak>k=1∑n−3ak
It suffices to show that s3n=0 only if i3k=−i3k−1=−i3k−2 for all k≤n. The triangle inequality implies the following: 0≤∣∣i3n−2a3n−2+s3n−3∣−∣i3n−1a3n−1+i3na3n∣∣≤∣s3n∣=00≤∣∣i3n−1a3n−1+s3n−3∣−∣i3n−2a3n−2+i3na3n∣∣≤∣s3n∣=0
By the lemma, we have a3n−2+∑k=13n−3ak<a3n−2+a3na3n−1+∑k=13n−3ak<a3n−1+a3n−3+a3n−4+a3n−2<=a3n−1+a3na3n−2+a3n
i3n=i3n−1 implies a3n−2+∑k=13n−3ak<∣i3n−1a3n−1+i3na3n∣ and i3n=i3n−2 implies ∣a3n−1+∑k=13n−3ak∣<∣i3n−2a3n−2+i3na3n∣, which are both contradictions; therefore, we must have i3n=−i3n−1 and i3n=−i3n−2.
The probability that i3n=−i3n−1=−i3n−2 is 41, so x=(41)670=213401, and 21−x=21−213411.
Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track
puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.
Source: MathNet,
licensed CC-BY-4.0.
Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.