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Bulgarian Mathematical Competitions

Algebra Difficulty 5.2 AIME, harder Prove it Bulgaria

Problem:
Find the number of the sequences {an}n=1∞\{a_{n}\}_{n=1}^{\infty} of integers such that
an+an+1=2an+2an+3+2005 a_{n}+a_{n+1}=2 a_{n+2} a_{n+3}+2005
for every nn.

Solution

Solution:
Subtracting the equalities an+an+1=2an+2an+3+1a_{n}+a_{n+1}=2 a_{n+2} a_{n+3}+1 and an+1+an+2=2an+3an+4+1a_{n+1}+a_{n+2}=2 a_{n+3} a_{n+4}+1, we get an+2−an=2an+3(an+4−an+2)a_{n+2}-a_{n}=2 a_{n+3}\left(a_{n+4}-a_{n+2}\right). Then it follows by induction on kk that
an+2−an=2kan+3…an+2k+1(an+2k+2−an+2k) a_{n+2}-a_{n}=2^{k} a_{n+3} \ldots a_{n+2 k+1}\left(a_{n+2 k+2}-a_{n+2 k}\right)
Hence 2k2^{k} divides an+2−ana_{n+2}-a_{n} for every kk, i.e. an+2=ana_{n+2}=a_{n}. Therefore a2n−1=a1a_{2 n-1}=a_{1} and a2n=a2a_{2 n}=a_{2} for every nn. Now it follows from the condition of the problem that (2a1−1)(2a2−1)=−4009(2 a_{1}-1)(2 a_{2}-1)=-4009. Since 4009=19⋅2114009=19\cdot 211 and 19 and 211 are primes, we get 2a1−1=±1,±19,±211,±40092 a_{1}-1= \pm 1, \pm 19, \pm 211, \pm 4009. Therefore there are 8 sequences with the required property.

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