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Algebra Difficulty 6.4 National Olympiad Prove it Mongolia

Determine all sequences of positive integers {an}n=1\{a_n\}_{n=1}^{\infty} satisfying the following conditions for any positive integer kk:
(i) a2k+1=2a2ka_{2^{k+1}} = 2 \cdot a_{2^k},
(ii) The set {a1,a2,,ak}\{a_1, a_2, \dots, a_k\} is a complete set of residue classes modulo kk.

Solution

The two sequences (1,2,3,)(1, 2, 3, \ldots) and (3,2,1,4,5,6,)(3, 2, 1, 4, 5, 6, \ldots).

For a positive integer nn, let Sn:={a1,,an}S_n := \{a_1, \dots, a_n\}.

Now fix nn and let M:=maxSnM := \max S_n and m:=minSnm := \min S_n and let k:=Mmk := M - m. Since all elements of SnS_n are different by (ii), we have kn1k \ge n-1. If knk \ge n then M,mM, m are elements of SkS_k and Mm(modk)M \equiv m \pmod k, which contradicts (ii). Hence k=n1k = n-1 and so the nn numbers in SnS_n are nn consecutive positive integers. It follows that for any nm1n \ge m \ge 1, we have anamn1a_n - a_m \le n-1. Moreover, it is easy to see that if SN={1,2,,N}S_N = \{1, 2, \dots, N\} for some NN, then an=na_n = n for all nN+1n \ge N+1.

(i) If a2=1a_2 = 1 then a1=2a_1 = 2, since elements of S2S_2 are consecutive. But a4=2a2=2a_4 = 2a_2 = 2, a contradiction.

(ii) If a2=2a_2 = 2 and a1=1a_1 = 1, then an=na_n = n for each n3n \ge 3. This gives the first answer.

(iii) If a2=2a_2 = 2 and a1=3a_1 = 3, then a4=4a_4 = 4 and a3=1a_3 = 1. Then an=na_n = n for each n5n \ge 5 and this gives the second answer.

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