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Algebra Difficulty 5.8 AIME, harder Prove it Mongolia

Let us define a binary operation \star for positive numbers AA and BB by
AB=AAB+1. A \star B = \frac{A}{AB + 1}.

(1) Prove that (AB)C=A(B+C)(A \star B) \star C = A \star (B + C).

(2) Find the value of the expression:
((((((((12)3)4))59)60)61). ((((\cdots((((1 \star 2) \star 3) \star 4) \cdots) \star 59) \star 60) \star 61).

Solution

1.
Let us compute (AB)C(A \star B) \star C:

First, AB=AAB+1A \star B = \dfrac{A}{AB + 1}.

Now, (AB)C=AB(AB)C+1(A \star B) \star C = \dfrac{A \star B}{(A \star B) C + 1}.

Substitute ABA \star B:
(AB)C=AAB+1AAB+1C+1 (A \star B) \star C = \frac{\dfrac{A}{AB + 1}}{\dfrac{A}{AB + 1} \cdot C + 1}

Simplify the denominator:
AAB+1C+1=ACAB+1+1=AC+AB+1AB+1 \dfrac{A}{AB + 1} \cdot C + 1 = \dfrac{AC}{AB + 1} + 1 = \dfrac{AC + AB + 1}{AB + 1}

So,
(AB)C=AAB+1AC+AB+1AB+1=AAC+AB+1 (A \star B) \star C = \frac{\dfrac{A}{AB + 1}}{\dfrac{AC + AB + 1}{AB + 1}} = \frac{A}{AC + AB + 1}

Now, compute A(B+C)A \star (B + C):
A(B+C)=AA(B+C)+1=AAB+AC+1 A \star (B + C) = \frac{A}{A(B + C) + 1} = \frac{A}{AB + AC + 1}

Therefore,
(AB)C=A(B+C) (A \star B) \star C = A \star (B + C)

2.
Let us compute (((((((12)3)4))59)60)61)((((\cdots(((1 \star 2) \star 3) \star 4) \cdots) \star 59) \star 60) \star 61).

Let us denote S=((((((12)3)4))59)60)61S = (((\cdots(((1 \star 2) \star 3) \star 4) \cdots) \star 59) \star 60) \star 61.

From part (1), we have (AB)C=A(B+C)(A \star B) \star C = A \star (B + C). This means the operation is associative in the following sense:
(((AB)C)D)=A(B+C+D) (((A \star B) \star C) \star D) = A \star (B + C + D)

Therefore,
S=1(2+3+4++59+60+61) S = 1 \star (2 + 3 + 4 + \cdots + 59 + 60 + 61)

The sum 2+3+4++612 + 3 + 4 + \cdots + 61 is an arithmetic progression:

The sum from 22 to 6161 is:
k=261k=k=161k1=616221=18911=1890 \sum_{k=2}^{61} k = \sum_{k=1}^{61} k - 1 = \frac{61 \cdot 62}{2} - 1 = 1891 - 1 = 1890

Therefore,
S=11890=111890+1=11891 S = 1 \star 1890 = \frac{1}{1 \cdot 1890 + 1} = \frac{1}{1891}

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