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Algebra Difficulty 7.8 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Germany

Problem:

A sequence x1,x2,x_{1}, x_{2}, \ldots is defined by x1=1x_{1}=1 and x2k=xkx_{2k}=-x_{k}, x2k1=(1)k+1xkx_{2k-1}=(-1)^{k+1} x_{k} for all k1k \geq 1. Show that for all n1n \geq 1 the following holds: x1+x2++xn0x_{1}+x_{2}+\ldots+x_{n} \geq 0.

Solution

Solution:

We denote Sn=x1++xnS_{n}=x_{1}+\ldots+x_{n} and carry out a proof by induction. Direct computation gives x1=1x_{1}=1, x2=1x_{2}=-1, x3=1x_{3}=1, x4=1x_{4}=1 and hence Sn0S_{n} \geq 0 for 1n41 \leq n \leq 4.

Now we assume that Sk0S_{k} \geq 0 holds for all natural numbers k<nk<n, and we claim Sn0S_{n} \geq 0.

For this we distinguish four cases.

Case 1: n=4mn=4m. We have
Sn=i=1m(x4i3+x4i2+x4i1+x4i)=i=1m(x2i1x2i1x2ix2i) S_{n}=\sum_{i=1}^{m}\left(x_{4i-3}+x_{4i-2}+x_{4i-1}+x_{4i}\right)=\sum_{i=1}^{m}\left(x_{2i-1}-x_{2i-1}-x_{2i}-x_{2i}\right)
=2i=1mx2i=2i=1mxi=2Sm0. =-2 \sum_{i=1}^{m} x_{2i}=2 \sum_{i=1}^{m} x_{i}=2 S_{m} \geq 0.

Case 2: n=4m+1n=4m+1. We have Sn=2Sm+x4m+1=2Sm+x2m+1=2Sm+(1)mxm+1S_{n}=2 S_{m}+x_{4m+1}=2 S_{m}+x_{2m+1}=2 S_{m}+(-1)^{m} x_{m+1}.

Case 2.1: mm is odd. Then SmS_{m} is also odd, so 2Sm22 S_{m} \geq 2 and Sn1>0S_{n} \geq 1>0.

Case 2.2: mm is even. We have Sn=2Sm+xm+1=Sm+Sm+10S_{n}=2 S_{m}+x_{m+1}=S_{m}+S_{m+1} \geq 0.

Case 3: n=4m+2n=4m+2. We have Sn=Sn2+x4m+1+x4m+2=Sn2+x2m+1x2m+1=Sn20S_{n}=S_{n-2}+x_{4m+1}+x_{4m+2}=S_{n-2}+x_{2m+1}-x_{2m+1}=S_{n-2} \geq 0.

Case 4: n=4m+3n=4m+3. We have Sn=Sn+1xn+1=2Sm+1+x2m+2=2Sm+1xm+1=Sm+Sm+10S_{n}=S_{n+1}-x_{n+1}=2 S_{m+1}+x_{2m+2}=2 S_{m+1}-x_{m+1}=S_{m}+S_{m+1} \geq 0.

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