Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /1362 of 1394

, 2015

Algebra Difficulty 6.2 National Olympiad Prove it United States

Problem:

The sequences of real numbers {ai}i=1\{a_{i}\}_{i=1}^{\infty} and {bi}i=1\{b_{i}\}_{i=1}^{\infty} satisfy an+1=(an11)(bn+1)a_{n+1} = (a_{n-1} - 1)(b_{n} + 1) and bn+1=anbn11b_{n+1} = a_{n} b_{n-1} - 1 for n2n \geq 2, with a1=a2=2015a_{1} = a_{2} = 2015 and b1=b2=2013b_{1} = b_{2} = 2013. Evaluate, with proof, the infinite sum
n=1bn(1an+11an+3) \sum_{n=1}^{\infty} b_{n}\left(\frac{1}{a_{n+1}}-\frac{1}{a_{n+3}}\right)

Solution

Solution:

Answer: 1+120142015\quad 1+\frac{1}{2014 \cdot 2015} OR 40582114058210\frac{4058211}{4058210}

First note that ana_{n} and bnb_{n} are weakly increasing and tend to infinity. In particular, an,bn{0,1,1}a_{n}, b_{n} \notin\{0,-1,1\} for all nn.

For n1n \geq 1, we have an+3=(an+11)(bn+2+1)=(an+11)(an+1bn)a_{n+3} = (a_{n+1} - 1)(b_{n+2} + 1) = (a_{n+1} - 1)(a_{n+1} b_{n}), so
bnan+3=1an+1(an+11)=1an+111an+1 \frac{b_{n}}{a_{n+3}} = \frac{1}{a_{n+1}(a_{n+1} - 1)} = \frac{1}{a_{n+1} - 1} - \frac{1}{a_{n+1}}
Therefore,
n=1bnan+1bnan+3=n=1bnan+1(1an+111an+1)=n=1bn+1an+11an+11 \begin{aligned} \sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{b_{n}}{a_{n+1}} - \frac{b_{n}}{a_{n+3}} & = \sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{b_{n}}{a_{n+1}} - \left(\frac{1}{a_{n+1} - 1} - \frac{1}{a_{n+1}}\right) \\ & = \sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{b_{n} + 1}{a_{n+1}} - \frac{1}{a_{n+1} - 1} \end{aligned}
Furthermore, bn+1=an+1an11b_{n} + 1 = \frac{a_{n+1}}{a_{n-1} - 1} for n2n \geq 2. So the sum over n2n \geq 2 is
n=2(1an111an+11)=limNn=2N(1an111an+11)=1a11+1a21limN(1aN1+1aN+11)=1a11+1a21 \begin{aligned} \sum_{n=2}^{\infty}\left(\frac{1}{a_{n-1} - 1} - \frac{1}{a_{n+1} - 1}\right) & = \lim_{N \rightarrow \infty} \sum_{n=2}^{N}\left(\frac{1}{a_{n-1} - 1} - \frac{1}{a_{n+1} - 1}\right) \\ & = \frac{1}{a_{1} - 1} + \frac{1}{a_{2} - 1} - \lim_{N \rightarrow \infty}\left(\frac{1}{a_{N} - 1} + \frac{1}{a_{N+1} - 1}\right) \\ & = \frac{1}{a_{1} - 1} + \frac{1}{a_{2} - 1} \end{aligned}
Hence the final answer is
(b1+1a21a21)+(1a11+1a21). \left(\frac{b_{1} + 1}{a_{2}} - \frac{1}{a_{2} - 1}\right) + \left(\frac{1}{a_{1} - 1} + \frac{1}{a_{2} - 1}\right) .
Cancelling the common terms and putting in our starting values, this equals
20142015+12014=112015+12014=1+120142015 \frac{2014}{2015} + \frac{1}{2014} = 1 - \frac{1}{2015} + \frac{1}{2014} = 1 + \frac{1}{2014 \cdot 2015}

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 reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.