Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /15 of 16

Algebra Difficulty 7.4 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it Czech-Polish-Slovak Mathematical Match

Given positive integers aa and kk, the sequence (an)n=1(a_n)_{n=1}^{\infty} is defined by
a1=aa_1 = a and an+1=an+kφ(an)a_{n+1} = a_n + k \cdot \varphi(a_n) for n=1,2,,n = 1, 2, \dots,
where φ(m)\varphi(m) stands for the product of digits of mm in its decimal representation (e.g., φ(413)=12\varphi(413) = 12, φ(308)=0\varphi(308) = 0). Prove that there exist positive integers aa and kk such that the sequence (an)n=1(a_n)_{n=1}^{\infty} contains exactly 2009 different numbers.

Solution

Obviously, the sequence (an)n=1(a_n)_{n=1}^{\infty} is increasing until the first term with the zero digit occurs and is constant following this term. Our aim is to find such values aa and kk that the zero digit first occurs in a2009a_{2009}. We will solve the problem in general – given an integer m>4m > 4, we present aa and kk such that the zero digit first occurs in ama_m.
Set
a=102m519=1112m5 ones,k=10m3+4=1000m4 zeros4. a = \frac{10^{2m-5} - 1}{9} = \underbrace{11\dots1}_{2m-5 \text{ ones}}, \quad k = 10^{m-3} + 4 = 1 \underbrace{00\dots0}_{m-4 \text{ zeros}} 4.

Then we have
a1=a=1112m5 a_1 = a = \underbrace{11\dots1}_{2m-5}
ϱ(a1)=1. \varrho(a_1) = 1.
a2=a1+k=a1+10004m1=1112m31115m4 a_2 = a_1 + k = a_1 + \underbrace{100\dots04}_{m-1} = \underbrace{11\dots12}_{m-3} \underbrace{11\dots15}_{m-4}
ϱ(a2)=10. \varrho(a_2) = 10.
a3=a2+10k=a2+100040m4=11122m411155m5 a_3 = a_2 + 10k = a_2 + \underbrace{100\dots040}_{m-4} = \underbrace{11\dots122}_{m-4} \underbrace{11\dots155}_{m-5}
ϱ(a3)=100. \varrho(a_3) = 100.
ai=ai1+10i2k=111222m1111555m1 a_i = a_{i-1} + 10^{i-2}k = \underbrace{11\dots122\dots2}_{m-1} \underbrace{11\dots155\dots5}_{m-1}
ϱ(ai)=10i1. \varrho(a_i) = 10^{i-1}.
am2=am3+10m4k=1222555m3 a_{m-2} = a_{m-3} + 10^{m-4}k = \underbrace{122\dots255\dots5}_{m-3}
ϱ(am2)=10m3. \varrho(a_{m-2}) = 10^{m-3}.
am1am2+10m3k=1000m41000m32226555m3 a_{m-1} - a_{m-2} + 10^{m-3}k = \underbrace{100\dots0}_{m-4} \underbrace{100\dots0}_{m-3} \underbrace{22\dots2655\dots5}_{m-3}
ϱ(am1)=610m3. \varrho(a_{m-1}) = 6 \cdot 10^{m-3}.
am=am1+610m3k=6000m524000m3822250555m5 a_m = a_{m-1} + 6 \cdot 10^{m-3}k = \underbrace{600\dots0}_{m-5} \underbrace{2400\dots0}_{m-3} \underbrace{822\dots25055\dots5}_{m-5}
ϱ(am)=0. \varrho(a_m) = 0.

Second solution. Put
a=61112007andk=33342007=16200042007 a = \underbrace{611\dots1}_{2007} \quad \text{and} \quad k = \underbrace{33\dots34}_{2007} = \frac{1}{6} \cdot \underbrace{200\dots04}_{2007}

Then we have
a1=6 1112007,ϱ(a1)=6,kϱ(a1)=2 00012007a2=26 11152006,ϱ(a2)=60,kϱ(a2)=2 000402007a3=226 111552005,ϱ(a3)=600,kϱ(a3)=2 0004002007a4=2226 1115552004,ϱ(a4)=6000,kϱ(a4)=2 00040002007at+1=2226 1115552007t,ϱ(at+1)=6 00t,kϱ(at+1)=2 0004 0002007a2007=2226 1552006ϱ(a2007)=6 002006,kϱ(a2007)=2 0004 0002007a2008=2226 5552007ϱ(a2008)=6 002007,kϱ(a2008)=2 0004 0002007a2009=22230 5552007ϱ(a2009)=0,kϱ(a2009)=0 \begin{align*} a_1 &= \underbrace{6 \ 11 \dots 1}_{2007}, & \varrho(a_1) &= 6, & k\varrho(a_1) &= \underbrace{2 \ 00 \dots 0 1}_{2007} \\ a_2 &= \underbrace{26 \ 11 \dots 1 5}_{2006}, & \varrho(a_2) &= 60, & k\varrho(a_2) &= \underbrace{2 \ 00 \dots 0 40}_{2007} \\ a_3 &= \underbrace{226 \ 11 \dots 1 55}_{2005}, & \varrho(a_3) &= 600, & k\varrho(a_3) &= \underbrace{2 \ 00 \dots 0 400}_{2007} \\ a_4 &= \underbrace{2226 \ 11 \dots 1 555}_{2004}, & \varrho(a_4) &= 6000, & k\varrho(a_4) &= \underbrace{2 \ 00 \dots 0 4000}_{2007} \\ & & & & \\ a_{t+1} = \underbrace{22 \dots 2 6 \ 11 \dots 1 55 \dots 5}_{2007-t}, & \varrho(a_{t+1}) &= \underbrace{6 \ 0 \dots 0}_{t}, & k\varrho(a_{t+1}) &= \underbrace{2 \ 00 \dots 0 4 \ 00 \dots 0}_{2007} \\ & & & & \\ a_{2007} = \underbrace{22 \dots 2 6 \ 15 \dots 5}_{2006} & \varrho(a_{2007}) &= \underbrace{6 \ 0 \dots 0}_{2006}, & k\varrho(a_{2007}) &= \underbrace{2 \ 00 \dots 0 4 \ 00 \dots 0}_{2007} \\ a_{2008} = \underbrace{22 \dots 2 6 \ 55 \dots 5}_{2007} & \varrho(a_{2008}) &= \underbrace{6 \ 0 \dots 0}_{2007}, & k\varrho(a_{2008}) &= \underbrace{2 \ 00 \dots 0 4 \ 00 \dots 0}_{2007} \\ a_{2009} = \underbrace{22 \dots 2 30 \ 55 \dots 5}_{2007} & \varrho(a_{2009}) &= 0, & k\varrho(a_{2009}) &= 0 \end{align*}
and obviously a2009,a2010,a2011,a_{2009}, a_{2010}, a_{2011}, \dots

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 and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.