Olympiad Maths Prep

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, 2010

Algebra Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Prove it Ukraine

Find all positive integers nn such that:
20+2122+2324+(2)n=40+41+42++42010. -2^0 + 2^1 - 2^2 + 2^3 - 2^4 + \dots - (-2)^n = 4^0 + 4^1 + 4^2 + \dots + 4^{2010}.

Solution

Answer: n=4021n = 4021.

Using the formula for sum of a geometric progression, we have:
20+2122+2324++(2)n=1((2)n+11)(2)n+1 -2^0 + 2^1 - 2^2 + 2^3 - 2^4 + \dots + (-2)^n = \frac{-1 \cdot ((-2)^{n+1}-1)}{(-2)^{n+1}}
The right side is:
40+41+42++42010=42011141=4201113 4^0 + 4^1 + 4^2 + \dots + 4^{2010} = \frac{4^{2011}-1}{4-1} = \frac{4^{2011}-1}{3}
So, equating both sides:
1((2)n+11)(2)n+1=4201113 \frac{-1 \cdot ((-2)^{n+1}-1)}{(-2)^{n+1}} = \frac{4^{2011}-1}{3}
Multiply both sides by (2)n+1(-2)^{n+1}:
((2)n+11)=4201113(2)n+1 -(( -2 )^{n+1} - 1) = \frac{4^{2011}-1}{3} \cdot ( -2 )^{n+1}
But from the context, the solution proceeds:

(2)n+1=42011(-2)^{n+1} = 4^{2011}

It follows that nn must be odd. Then n=2m+1(2)2m+2=420114m+1=42011n = 2m + 1 \Rightarrow (-2)^{2m+2} = 4^{2011} \Rightarrow 4^{m+1} = 4^{2011} implying m=2010m = 2010 and n=4021n = 4021.

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