Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 5.4 AIME, harder Prove it United States

Problem:
Let a>2a > 2 be given, and define a sequence a0,a1,a2,a_{0}, a_{1}, a_{2}, \ldots by
a0=1,a1=a,an+1=(an2an122)an. a_{0} = 1, \quad a_{1} = a, \quad a_{n+1} = \left(\frac{a_{n}^{2}}{a_{n-1}^{2}} - 2\right) \cdot a_{n} .
Show that for all integers k0k \geq 0, we have
i=0k1ai<a+2a242. \sum_{i=0}^{k} \frac{1}{a_{i}} < \frac{a+2-\sqrt{a^{2}-4}}{2} .

Solution

Solution:
Write the recursion as
an+1an=(anan1)22 \frac{a_{n+1}}{a_{n}} = \left(\frac{a_{n}}{a_{n-1}}\right)^{2} - 2
Let bn=an+1/anb_{n} = a_{n+1} / a_{n}; then bn=bn122b_{n} = b_{n-1}^{2} - 2 and b0=ab_{0} = a. Let
t=a+a242 t = \frac{a + \sqrt{a^{2} - 4}}{2}
Then a=t+1/ta = t + 1 / t and it is a simple induction to show that bn=t2n+t2nb_{n} = t^{2^{n}} + t^{-2^{n}} for n0n \geq 0. Then
an=a0b0b1bn1=i=0n1(t2i+t2i)=i=0n1t2i+1t2i+1t2it2i=t2nt2ntt1 a_{n} = a_{0} b_{0} b_{1} \cdots b_{n-1} = \prod_{i=0}^{n-1} \left(t^{2^{i}} + t^{-2^{i}}\right) = \prod_{i=0}^{n-1} \frac{t^{2^{i+1}} - t^{-2^{i+1}}}{t^{2^{i}} - t^{-2^{i}}} = \frac{t^{2^{n}} - t^{-2^{n}}}{t - t^{-1}}
So
i=0k1ai=(tt1)i=0k1t2it2i=(tt1)i=0kt2i+11t2i+11=(tt1)i=0k(1ti11t2i+11)=(tt1)(1t11t2k+11)<(tt1)(1t1)=1+1t=a+2a242. \begin{aligned} \sum_{i=0}^{k} \frac{1}{a_{i}} & = \left(t - t^{-1}\right) \sum_{i=0}^{k} \frac{1}{t^{2^{i}} - t^{-2^{i}}} \\ & = \left(t - t^{-1}\right) \sum_{i=0}^{k} \frac{t^{2^{i}} + 1 - 1}{t^{2^{i+1}} - 1} \\ & = \left(t - t^{-1}\right) \sum_{i=0}^{k} \left(\frac{1}{t^{i} - 1} - \frac{1}{t^{2^{i+1}} - 1}\right) \\ & = \left(t - t^{-1}\right)\left(\frac{1}{t - 1} - \frac{1}{t^{2^{k+1}} - 1}\right) \\ & < \left(t - t^{-1}\right)\left(\frac{1}{t - 1}\right) \\ & = 1 + \frac{1}{t} \\ & = \frac{a + 2 - \sqrt{a^{2} - 4}}{2} . \end{aligned}

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.