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Algebra Difficulty 8.1 Shortlist Prove it Hong Kong

Let x1x_1, x2x_2, x3x_3, \dots be a sequence of nonzero real numbers satisfying
xn=xn2xn12xn2xn1for n=3,4,5, x_n = \frac{x_{n-2} x_{n-1}}{2x_{n-2} - x_{n-1}} \quad \text{for } n = 3, 4, 5, \dots
Find all pairs (x1,x2)(x_1, x_2) such that xnx_n is an integer for infinitely many nn.

Solution

The only possibilities are (x1,x2)=(c,c)(x_1, x_2) = (c, c) for some nonzero integer cc.

Rewrite the recurrence relation as
2xn1=1xn+1xn2. \frac{2}{x_{n-1}} = \frac{1}{x_n} + \frac{1}{x_{n-2}}.
Let yn=1xny_n = \frac{1}{x_n} for all nn. This implies
yn1yn2=ynyn1. y_{n-1} - y_{n-2} = y_n - y_{n-1}.
Therefore, {yn}\{y_n\} is an arithmetic sequence. Let yn=a+ndy_n = a + n d for some constants aa and dd. Then we have
xn=1yn=1a+nd. x_n = \frac{1}{y_n} = \frac{1}{a + n d}.
If d0d \neq 0, then we have a+nd|a + n d| \to \infty when nn \to \infty, and hence xn0x_n \to 0. However, xn0x_n \neq 0. This shows xnx_n cannot be an integer for large nn. So it suffices to consider d=0d = 0. In that case {xn}\{x_n\} is a constant sequence. In order that there are infinitely many integer terms, the constant must be an integer. So x1=x2=cx_1 = x_2 = c for some integer c0c \neq 0. Note that a constant sequence satisfies the recurrence relation since
c=c22cc. c = \frac{c^2}{2c - c}.

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