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Algebra Difficulty 4.9 AIME Prove it Estonia

On the first line of a notebook Juku writes the number 4343. On every following line he writes the number x266x+1122x^2 - 66x + 1122, where xx is the number on the previous line. Find the number that Juku will write on the 20212021st line.

Solution

Let xix_i be the number written on the iith line, then for all i=1,2,i = 1, 2, \dots we have xi+1=xi266xi+1122x_{i+1} = x_i^2 - 66x_i + 1122. Notice that this is equivalent to xi+133=xi266xi+1089=(xi33)2x_{i+1} - 33 = x_i^2 - 66x_i + 1089 = (x_i - 33)^2. Denoting an=xn33a_n = x_n - 33, we acquire ai+1=ai2a_{i+1} = a_i^2 for all i=1,2,i = 1, 2, \dots, which means that a1=4333=10a_1 = 43 - 33 = 10, a2=a12=102a_2 = a_1^2 = 10^2, a3=a22=104a_3 = a_2^2 = 10^4 and in general ai=102i1a_i = 10^{2^{i-1}}. So x2021=a2021+33=1022020+33x_{2021} = a_{2021} + 33 = 10^{2^{2020}} + 33.

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