Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / Saudi Arabian Mathematical Competitions /313 of 395

Saudi Arabian Mathematical Competitions

Algebra Difficulty 6.5 National Olympiad Prove it Saudi Arabia

Find all real numbers xx that can be written as
x=a0a1a2…an+a1a2a3…an+a2a3a4…an+…+an−2an−1an+an−1an, x = \frac{a_{0}}{a_{1} a_{2} \ldots a_{n}} + \frac{a_{1}}{a_{2} a_{3} \ldots a_{n}} + \frac{a_{2}}{a_{3} a_{4} \ldots a_{n}} + \ldots + \frac{a_{n-2}}{a_{n-1} a_{n}} + \frac{a_{n-1}}{a_{n}},
where n,a1,a2,…,ann, a_{1}, a_{2}, \ldots, a_{n} are positive integers and
1=a0≤a1<a2<…<an. 1 = a_{0} \leq a_{1} < a_{2} < \ldots < a_{n}.

Solution

It is clear that x∈Qx \in \mathbb{Q} and x>0x > 0.

On the other hand, if xx has such a representation, then from the inequalities
1a1a2…an≤1a2a3…ana1a2a3…an≤a2−1a2a3…an=1a3a4…an−1a2a3…anan−2an−1an≤an−1−1an−1an=1an−1an−1anan−1an≤an−1an=1−1an, \begin{aligned} & \frac{1}{a_{1} a_{2} \ldots a_{n}} \leq \frac{1}{a_{2} a_{3} \ldots a_{n}} \\ & \frac{a_{1}}{a_{2} a_{3} \ldots a_{n}} \leq \frac{a_{2} - 1}{a_{2} a_{3} \ldots a_{n}} = \frac{1}{a_{3} a_{4} \ldots a_{n}} - \frac{1}{a_{2} a_{3} \ldots a_{n}} \\ & \frac{a_{n-2}}{a_{n-1} a_{n}} \leq \frac{a_{n-1} - 1}{a_{n-1} a_{n}} = \frac{1}{a_{n}} - \frac{1}{a_{n-1} a_{n}} \\ & \frac{a_{n-1}}{a_{n}} \leq \frac{a_{n} - 1}{a_{n}} = 1 - \frac{1}{a_{n}}, \end{aligned}
we get x≤1−1anx \leq 1 - \frac{1}{a_{n}}, hence x∈(0,1]x \in (0, 1]. We note that x=1x = 1 can be represented in this form by considering n=1n = 1 and a1=1a_{1} = 1.

If x=pq∈(0,1)x = \frac{p}{q} \in (0, 1), where pp and qq are positive integers, p<qp < q, then we can write
x=x⋅1=pq(11⋅2…p+12⋅3…p+23⋅4…p+p−1p), x = x \cdot 1 = \frac{p}{q} \left( \frac{1}{1 \cdot 2 \ldots p} + \frac{1}{2 \cdot 3 \ldots p} + \frac{2}{3 \cdot 4 \ldots p} + \frac{p-1}{p} \right),
and we can consider n=pn = p, a1=1a_{1} = 1, a2=2a_{2} = 2, …\ldots, ap−1=p−1a_{p-1} = p-1, ap=qa_{p} = q.

The desired numbers are the elements of the set Q∩(0,1]\mathbb{Q} \cap (0, 1].

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,604 problems in a working order, from Junior Challenge level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.