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Algebra Difficulty 7.6 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Germany

An infinite sequence a0,a1,a2,a_{0}, a_{1}, a_{2}, \ldots of real numbers satisfies the condition an=an+1an+2a_{n}=\left|a_{n+1}-a_{n+2}\right| for all n0n \geq 0, where a0a_{0} and a1a_{1} are distinct positive numbers.
Can this sequence be bounded? Justify your answer.

Solution

First we prove that two consecutive terms can never be equal. From an=an+1=ca_{n}=a_{n+1}=c it would follow immediately that an1=0a_{n-1}=0 and an2=an3=c(n>2)a_{n-2}=a_{n-3}=c \quad(n>2). Finally we would have to have a0=a1a_{0}=a_{1} or a0=0a_{0}=0 resp. a1=0a_{1}=0, which is excluded. Hence an>0a_{n}>0 also holds for all nn.

Resolving the condition gives an+2=an+1+ana_{n+2}=a_{n+1}+a_{n} if an+2>an+1a_{n+2}>a_{n+1}, and an+2=an+1ana_{n+2}=a_{n+1}-a_{n} if an+2<an+1a_{n+2}<a_{n+1}. From an+1<ana_{n+1}<a_{n} it therefore follows that an+2>ana_{n+2}>a_{n} and an+2>an+1a_{n+2}>a_{n+1}. Hence the subsequence b0,b1,b2,b_{0}, b_{1}, b_{2}, \ldots that arises by omitting all terms that are smaller than both their predecessor and their successor is strictly monotonically increasing.

If we now show that bm+1bmbmbm1b_{m+1}-b_{m} \geq b_{m}-b_{m-1} holds for all m2m \geq 2, then we have for this subsequence an arithmetic sequence with positive common difference as a lower bound, from which the unboundedness follows directly. For this we set bm+1=an+2b_{m+1}=a_{n+2}, where an+2>an+1a_{n+2}>a_{n+1} is to hold. For an+1>ana_{n+1}>a_{n} we have bm=an+1b_{m}=a_{n+1} and bm1an1b_{m-1} \geq a_{n-1} (because either bm1=an1b_{m-1}=a_{n-1} or bm1=an>an1b_{m-1}=a_{n}>a_{n-1} holds). Thus bm+1bm=an=an+1an1bmbm1b_{m+1}-b_{m}=a_{n}=a_{n+1}-a_{n-1} \geq b_{m}-b_{m-1}. For an+1<ana_{n+1}<a_{n}, on the other hand, we have bm=anb_{m}=a_{n} and bm1an1b_{m-1} \geq a_{n-1} (because either bm1=an1b_{m-1}=a_{n-1} or bm1=an2>an1b_{m-1}=a_{n-2}>a_{n-1} holds). So here bm+1bm=an+1=anan1bmbm1b_{m+1}-b_{m}=a_{n+1}=a_{n}-a_{n-1} \geq b_{m}-b_{m-1}.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement translated into English from de; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.