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Algebra Difficulty 7.3 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Serbia

Problem:

Let a0a_{0} and ana_{n} be distinct divisors of a natural number m>1m>1, and let a0,a1,a2,,ana_{0}, a_{1}, a_{2}, \ldots, a_{n} be a sequence of natural numbers satisfying
ai+1=ai±ai1 for 0<i<n a_{i+1}=\left|a_{i} \pm a_{i-1}\right| \quad \text{ for } 0<i<n
If gcd(a0,,an)=1\gcd\left(a_{0}, \ldots, a_{n}\right)=1, prove that there exists a term in the sequence which is smaller than m\sqrt{m}.

Solution

Solution:

Let us consider the two smallest (distinct) terms of the sequence, pp and qq. If min{p,q}=1\min \{p, q\}= 1, the claim trivially holds; hence from now on we assume p,q>1p, q>1.

Lemma 1. There exist indices kk and ll such that ak=p,al=qa_{k}=p, a_{l}=q and kl2|k-l| \leq 2.

Proof. Let ak=pa_{k}=p and al=qa_{l}=q (k<lk<l). Suppose that r=lk>2r=l-k>2. We shall prove by induction on rr that for some ii, k<i<lk<i<l, we have ai{p,q}a_{i} \in\{p, q\}. Since ak+3ak+2ak+1=pa_{k+3} \neq\left|a_{k+2}-a_{k+1}\right|=p, we have ak+3=ak+1+ak+2a_{k+3}=a_{k+1}+a_{k+2}; similarly al3=al2+al1a_{l-3}=a_{l-2}+a_{l-1}. Let am=maxp<i<qaia_{m}=\max _{p<i<q} a_{i}. It is clear that k+2<m<l2k+2<m<l-2 (hence lk6l-k \geqslant 6), and also am+2=amam+1=am1a_{m+2}=a_{m}-a_{m+1}=a_{m-1} and am+1=amam1=am2a_{m+1}=a_{m}-a_{m-1}=a_{m-2}. This means that the sequence (ai)\left(a_{i}^{\prime}\right), defined by ai=aia_{i}^{\prime}=a_{i} for i<mi<m and ai=ai+3a_{i}^{\prime}=a_{i+3} for imi \geqslant m, satisfies the conditions of the problem; moreover ak=pa_{k}^{\prime}=p and al3=qa_{l-3}^{\prime}=q, so by the inductive hypothesis (since (l3)k3(l-3)-k \geqslant 3) we have ai{p,q}a_{i}^{\prime} \in\{p, q\} for some ii (k<i<l3k<i<l-3). Then also ai{p,q}a_{i} \in\{p, q\} or ai+3{p,q}a_{i+3} \in\{p, q\}, which completes the induction.

Lemma 2. For every ii (0in0 \leqslant i \leqslant n) there exist xi,yiN0x_{i}, y_{i} \in \mathbb{N}_{0} such that ai=xip+yiqa_{i}=x_{i} p+y_{i} q and (xi,yi)=1\left(x_{i}, y_{i}\right)=1.

Proof. Let us consider the vectors vk=(1,0)v_{k}=(1,0) and vl=(0,1)v_{l}=(0,1) and, for every ii, define vi+2=εivi+εivi+1v_{i+2}=\varepsilon_{i} v_{i}+\varepsilon_{i}^{\prime} v_{i+1} if ai+2=εiai+εiai+1a_{i+2}=\varepsilon_{i} a_{i}+\varepsilon_{i}^{\prime} a_{i+1} (εi,εi{1,1}\varepsilon_{i}, \varepsilon_{i}^{\prime} \in\{-1,1\}). By a simple induction we get that for vi=(xi,yi)v_{i}=(x_{i}, y_{i}) we have
ai=xip+yiq a_{i}=x_{i} p+y_{i} q
Since xi+1yi+2xi+2yi+1=xi+1(εiyi+εiyi+1)(εixi+εixi+1)yi+1=εi(xiyi+1xi+1yi)x_{i+1} y_{i+2}-x_{i+2} y_{i+1}=x_{i+1}\left(\varepsilon_{i} y_{i}+\varepsilon_{i}^{\prime} y_{i+1}\right)-\left(\varepsilon_{i} x_{i}+\varepsilon_{i}^{\prime} x_{i+1}\right) y_{i+1}=-\varepsilon_{i}\left(x_{i} y_{i+1}-x_{i+1} y_{i}\right) and similarly xiyi+2xi+2yi=εi(xiyi+1xi+1yi)x_{i} y_{i+2}-x_{i+2} y_{i}=\varepsilon_{i}^{\prime}\left(x_{i} y_{i+1}-x_{i+1} y_{i}\right), we have
xiyi+1xi+1yi,xiyi+2xi+2yi{1,1} for 0i<n x_{i} y_{i+1}-x_{i+1} y_{i}, x_{i} y_{i+2}-x_{i+2} y_{i} \in\{-1,1\} \text{ for } 0 \leqslant i<n
and from this (xi,yi)=1\left(x_{i}, y_{i}\right)=1. It remains to show that xi,yi0x_{i}, y_{i} \geqslant 0 for all ii.

Suppose that xi<0x_{i}<0 for some i<ki<k (the case yi<0y_{i}<0 and/or i>li>l is analogous) and consider the largest such ii. Since ai>0a_{i}>0 and (1), we have yi>0y_{i}>0. From (2) and xiyi+1,xiyi+20xi+1yi,xi+2yix_{i} y_{i+1}, x_{i} y_{i+2} \leqslant 0 \leqslant x_{i+1} y_{i}, x_{i+2} y_{i} it follows that vi+1v_{i+1}, vi+2{(0,1),(1,0)}v_{i+2} \in\{(0,1),(1,0)\}, and then it must be that vi=±(1,1)v_{i}= \pm(1,-1), i.e. ai=pqa_{i}=|p-q|. However, since pp and qq are coprime and greater than 1, we have max{p,q}>pq{p,q}\max \{p, q\}>|p-q| \notin\{p, q\}, contrary to the choice of pp and qq.

Let m=da0=eanm=d a_{0}=e a_{n}. By Lemma 2 we have m=dx0p+dy0q=exnp+eynqm=d x_{0} p+d y_{0} q=e x_{n} p+e y_{n} q, where (dx0,dy0)(exn,eyn)\left(d x_{0}, d y_{0}\right) \neq\left(e x_{n}, e y_{n}\right) since because of a0ana_{0} \neq a_{n} we have x0y0xnyn\frac{x_{0}}{y_{0}} \neq \frac{x_{n}}{y_{n}}. From this it follows that pdy0eynp \mid d y_{0}-e y_{n}, so dy0>pd y_{0}>p or eyn>pe y_{n}>p; finally, m>pqm>p q and therefore min(p,q)<m\min (p, q)<\sqrt{m}.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement translated into English from sr; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.