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Algebra Difficulty 5.4 AIME, harder Prove it Estonia

Find all integers that cannot be expressed as a sum of at least three consecutive terms of some non-constant arithmetic sequence of integers.

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

First prove that 11 and 1-1 are not expressible as the sum of at least three consecutive terms of an arithmetic sequence of integers. Let a1a_1, a2a_2, \ldots, aka_k be kk consecutive terms of an arithmetic sequence, where k3k \ge 3. They sum up to s=a1+ak2ks = \frac{a_1 + a_k}{2} \cdot k. If kk is odd, then ss is divisible by kk. If kk is even, then ss is divisible by k2>1\frac{k}{2} > 1. In both cases, ss differs from 11 and 1-1.

Now prove that every integer ss other than 11 or 1-1 is expressible as the sum of at least three consecutive terms of an arithmetic sequence of integers. If s=0s = 0, then s=1+0+1s = -1 + 0 + 1. If ss is different from zero and is even, i.e., s=2ts = 2t, where t0t \neq 0, then t,0,t,2t-t, 0, t, 2t sum up to 2t=s2t = s. If ss is odd, i.e., s=2t+1s = 2t + 1, then t+1,,0,1,,t1,t,t+1-t + 1, \dots, 0, 1, \dots, t-1, t, t+1 are consecutive terms of an arithmetic sequence; they sum up to t+(t+1)=2t+1=st + (t+1) = 2t + 1 = s, since the terms t+1-t+1 through t1t-1 mutually cancel.

Solution 2

Let a1a_1 be the first of the consecutive terms and dd be the common difference of consecutive terms. The sum of nn consecutive terms is s=2a1+d(n1)2ns = \frac{2a_1 + d(n-1)}{2} \cdot n. Thus 2s=(2a1+d(n1))n2s = (2a_1 + d(n-1))n. If s=1s = 1 or s=1s = -1, then this equality cannot hold because n3n \ge 3 divides neither 22 nor 2-2. If s=0s = 0, then choose the portion of the arithmetic progression to be 1-1, 00, 11. If ss differs from these numbers, then let n=2sn = 2|s|, dd be an arbitrary odd number, and a1=1(n1)d2a_1 = \frac{1 - (n-1)d}{2} if s>0s > 0, and a1=1(n1)d2a_1 = \frac{-1 - (n-1)d}{2} if s<0s < 0.

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