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Algebra Difficulty 8.7 Shortlist Prove it Taiwan

Define the Fibonacci numbers FnF_n as follows: F0=0,F1=1,F2=1;Fn+2=Fn+1+FnF_0 = 0, F_1 = 1, F_2 = 1; F_{n+2} = F_{n+1} + F_n for all positive integers nn.
Prove that there is a positive integer NN with the following property: among the terms of any non-constant arithmetic progression of positive integers of length NN, there must be a term, when expressed as a sum of Fibonacci numbers, requiring at least 2024 of them (FiF_i's can be repeated).

Solution

We adopt the following convention: when writing a positive integer as a sum of Fibonacci numbers, we use the largest possible Fibonacci numbers. For example, although 1818 can be written as 8+5+58+5+5, we write it as 13+513+5.
Let kk be a positive integer and let F\mathcal{F} be the set of Fibonacci numbers. Define set addition A+B:={a+b:aA,bB}A+B := \{a+b: a \in A, b \in B\}. Let N(k)N(k) be the length of the longest arithmetic progression contained in the set F++Fk\underbrace{\mathcal{F} + \dots + \mathcal{F}}_{k}.
We will prove by mathematical induction that N(k)N(k) exists and is finite for every kk; then taking N=N(2023)+1N = N(2023) + 1 gives what we want.

Base case: when k=1k=1, N(1)4N(1) \le 4, because the longest arithmetic progression in F\mathcal{F} is 0,1,2,30,1,2,3, of length 44.

Next we prove two lemmas.

Lemma 1. If a>Fna > F_n, and aa can be written as a sum of kk terms FiF_i, each satisfying FiFnF_i \le F_n, then aa can also be written as a sum of kk terms FiF_i satisfying FiFnF_i \le F_n, among which FnF_n appears.

Proof of Lemma 1. Let a=j=1kFa(j)a = \sum_{j=1}^{k} F_{a(j)}. Suppose aa cannot be written in such a form. Note that 2Ft=Ft+1+Ft22F_t = F_{t+1} + F_{t-2}. If
- among the Fa(j)F_{a(j)} there are two consecutive Fibonacci numbers Fi+Fi+1F_i + F_{i+1}, we change them to Fi+2+F0F_{i+2} + F_0.
- among the Fa(j)F_{a(j)} there are two repeated Fibonacci numbers Fi+FiF_i + F_i, and these two terms are not 00, we change them to Fi+1+Fi2F_{i+1} + F_{i-2}.
We keep performing these two operations. If in this process FnF_n never appears, then we can write aa as j=1kFb(j)\sum_{j=1}^{k} F_{b(j)}, with Fb(j)<FnF_{b(j)} < F_n, and, apart from 00, there are no repeated or consecutive Fibonacci numbers. The maximum value of such a number is
Fn1+Fn3+Fn5Fn<a, F_{n-1} + F_{n-3} + F_{n-5} \le F_n < a,
a contradiction. Hence aa can be written as a sum of kk Fibonacci numbers each at most FnF_n, among which FnF_n appears. □

In particular, if Fn<a<Fn+1F_n < a < F_{n+1}, and aa can be written as a sum of kk Fibonacci numbers, then we may require that one of them be FnF_n.

Lemma 2. Given a positive integer MM, then for any arithmetic progression of positive integers of length 4M4M
A,A+d,,A+(4M1)d, A, A+d, \dots, A+(4M-1)d,
there exists an integer \ell such that at least MM terms of this arithmetic progression lie in the interval [F,F+1][F_\ell, F_{\ell+1}].

Proof of Lemma 2. The case d=0d=0 needs no proof, so assume d>0d>0. If A+(3M)dA+(3M)d through A+(4M1)dA+(4M-1)d all lie in some interval [F,F+1][F_\ell, F_{\ell+1}], the conclusion holds. Otherwise, there is some FF_\ell that cuts through this range, so we may write A+mdF<A+(m+1)dA+md \le F_\ell < A+(m+1)d, where m3Mm \ge 3M.
Note that A+(3M)dF3=1A+(3M)d \ge F_3 = 1. And when 3\ell \ge 3, we have 1.5F1=F1+12(F2+F3)F1.5F_{\ell-1} = F_{\ell-1} + \frac{1}{2}(F_{\ell-2} + F_{\ell-3}) \le F_\ell. Therefore from 1.5F1F<A+(m+1)d1.5F_{\ell-1} \le F_\ell < A+(m+1)d, we can obtain
F1<A1.5+m+11.5dA+(m+1M)d, F_{\ell-1} < \frac{A}{1.5} + \frac{m+1}{1.5}d \le A + (m+1-M)d,
so the (m+1M)(m+1-M)-th term through the mm-th term all lie in the interval [F1,F][F_{\ell-1}, F_\ell]. □

Remark: The estimate in this part is not the tightest possible; for instance, 1.51.5 can be replaced by any rr between 11 and 1+52\frac{1+\sqrt{5}}{2}, and 44 can be replaced by any number LL satisfying L1r>L2\frac{L-1}{r} > L-2.

Finally we prove that N(k)<4N(k1)+4N(k) < 4N(k-1)+4. By the induction hypothesis N(k1)N(k-1) is finite, so for any arithmetic progression of length 4N(k1)+44N(k-1)+4, there exists a sub-progression a1,a2,,aN(k1)+1a_1, a_2, \dots, a_{N(k-1)+1} of length N(k1)+1N(k-1)+1 lying in some interval [F,F+1][F_\ell, F_{\ell+1}]. By Lemma 1 we know that if the aia_i can all be written as sums of kk Fibonacci terms, then we may require that FF_\ell appear among these kk terms. Thus aiF\langle a_i - F_\ell \rangle is an arithmetic progression of length N(k1)+1N(k-1)+1, each of whose terms can be written as a sum of k1k-1 Fibonacci numbers, contradicting the definition of N(k1)N(k-1). Hence N(k)N(k) is at most 4N(k1)+34N(k-1)+3. This completes the proof. □

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