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Algebra Difficulty 9.0 IMO level Prove it IMO

Let a0,a1,a2,a_{0}, a_{1}, a_{2}, \ldots be an infinite strictly increasing sequence of positive integers such that for each n1n \geqslant 1 we have
an{an1+an+12,an1an+1} a_{n} \in\left\{\frac{a_{n-1}+a_{n+1}}{2}, \sqrt{a_{n-1} \cdot a_{n+1}}\right\}
Let b1,b2,b_{1}, b_{2}, \ldots be an infinite sequence of letters defined as
bn={A, if an=12(an1+an+1)G, otherwise  b_{n}= \begin{cases}A, & \text{ if } a_{n}=\frac{1}{2}\left(a_{n-1}+a_{n+1}\right) \\ G, & \text{ otherwise }\end{cases}
Prove that there exist positive integers n0n_{0} and dd such that for all nn0n \geqslant n_{0} we have bn+d=bnb_{n+d}=b_{n}.

Solution

Solution 1. We will show that the eventual period of sequence (bn)\left(b_{n}\right) consists of any fixed number of occurrences of GG (possibly zero) followed by a single AA.
We look at the ratios of consecutive terms of the sequence (an)\left(a_{n}\right). Let CC and DD be coprime positive integers such that a1/a0=(C+D)/Ca_{1} / a_{0}=(C+D) / C. If bn=Gb_{n}=G then an/an1=an+1/ana_{n} / a_{n-1}=a_{n+1} / a_{n}. If bn=Ab_{n}=A and an/an1=(C+kD)/(C+(k1)D)a_{n} / a_{n-1}=(C+k D) /(C+(k-1) D) for some positive integer kk then
an+1an=2anan1an=C+(k+1)DC+kD \frac{a_{n+1}}{a_{n}}=\frac{2 a_{n}-a_{n-1}}{a_{n}}=\frac{C+(k+1) D}{C+k D}
Thus, by induction, there is a sequence of positive integers (kn)\left(k_{n}\right) for n1n \geqslant 1 which satisfies an/an1=(C+knD)/(C+(kn1)D)a_{n} / a_{n-1}=\left(C+k_{n} D\right) /\left(C+\left(k_{n}-1\right) D\right) for all positive integers nn. Moreover, we have k1=1k_{1}=1 and
kn+1={kn, if bn=Gkn+1, if bn=A k_{n+1}= \begin{cases}k_{n}, & \text{ if } b_{n}=G \\ k_{n}+1, & \text{ if } b_{n}=A\end{cases}
If there are only finitely many values of nn such that bn=Ab_{n}=A then the problem statement obviously holds (we can choose d=1d=1 ). Thus, we may assume that bn=Ab_{n}=A for infinitely many nn. This means that the sequence ( knk_{n} ) attains all positive integer values. Given a value q1q \geqslant 1, denote by mqm_{q} the last index where value qq occurs, that is, the index such that kmq=qk_{m_{q}}=q and kmq+1=q+1k_{m_{q}+1}=q+1.
Our aim is to prove that the sequence of differences (mq+1mq)\left(m_{q+1}-m_{q}\right) is eventually constant. We first show that it is bounded above. To that end, fix t1t \geqslant 1 (we will choose a suitably large tt later on) and consider a sequence s(t)0,s(t)1,s(t)_{0}, s(t)_{1}, \ldots defined for q1q \geqslant 1 by s(t)q=amq/(C+qD)ts(t)_{q}=a_{m_{q}} /(C+q D)^{t}.
We note two properties of s(t)qs(t)_{q}. First, simple algebra gives
s(t)q+1=amq+1(C+(q+1)D)t=amq(C+(q+1)D)t(C+(q+1)DC+qD)mq+1mq=amq(C+qD)t(C+(q+1)DC+qD)mq+1mqt=s(t)q(C+(q+1)DC+qD)mq+1mqt \begin{gathered} s(t)_{q+1}=\frac{a_{m_{q+1}}}{(C+(q+1) D)^{t}}=\frac{a_{m_{q}}}{(C+(q+1) D)^{t}}\left(\frac{C+(q+1) D}{C+q D}\right)^{m_{q+1}-m_{q}} \\ =\frac{a_{m_{q}}}{(C+q D)^{t}}\left(\frac{C+(q+1) D}{C+q D}\right)^{m_{q+1}-m_{q}-t}=s(t)_{q}\left(\frac{C+(q+1) D}{C+q D}\right)^{m_{q+1}-m_{q}-t} \end{gathered}
It follows that
s(t)q>s(t)q+1s(t)q=s(t)q+1s(t)q<s(t)q+1} if and only if {mq+1mq<tmq+1mq=tmq+1mq>t \left.\begin{array}{l} s(t)_{q}>s(t)_{q+1} \\ s(t)_{q}=s(t)_{q+1} \\ s(t)_{q}<s(t)_{q+1} \end{array}\right\} \quad \text{ if and only if } \quad\left\{\begin{array}{l} m_{q+1}-m_{q}<t \\ m_{q+1}-m_{q}=t \\ m_{q+1}-m_{q}>t \end{array}\right.
Second, suppose that mq+1mqtm_{q+1}-m_{q} \geqslant t for some positive integer qq. We claim that in that case s(t)qs(t)_{q} is a positive integer. Indeed, we have
amq+t=amq(C+(q+1)DC+qD)t, a_{m_{q}+t}=a_{m_{q}}\left(\frac{C+(q+1) D}{C+q D}\right)^{t},
because kmq+1=kmq+2==kmq+t=q+1k_{m_{q}+1}=k_{m_{q}+2}=\cdots=k_{m_{q}+t}=q+1. Since C+(q+1)DC+(q+1) D and C+qDC+q D are coprime we have that
s(t)q=amq(C+qD)t s(t)_{q}=\frac{a_{m_{q}}}{(C+q D)^{t}}
is an integer.
We choose T1T \geqslant 1 such that s(T)1<1s(T)_{1}<1 (which exists since C+D>1C+D>1 ). Then, by induction we can show that s(T)q<1s(T)_{q}<1 for all qq. Indeed, since s(T)q<1s(T)_{q}<1, it is not a positive integer; this means that mq+1mq<Tm_{q+1}-m_{q}<T by the second property above. Hence by the first property above we have s(T)q+1<s(T)q<1s(T)_{q+1}<s(T)_{q}<1, as needed.
This means that mq+1mq<Tm_{q+1}-m_{q}<T for all qq. Thus there is a largest integer TTT^{\prime} \leqslant T with the property that an equality mq+1mq=Tm_{q+1}-m_{q}=T^{\prime} holds for infinitely many values of qq.
Therefore, for all sufficiently large values of qq we have the inequality mq+1mqTm_{q+1}-m_{q} \leqslant T^{\prime}, which by the first property implies that the sequence s(T)s\left(T^{\prime}\right) is decreasing from some point on. Moreover, we know that the sequence attains infinitely many integer values since there are infinitely many values of qq for which we have the equality mq+1mq=Tm_{q+1}-m_{q}=T^{\prime}. As a consequence, the sequence s(T)s\left(T^{\prime}\right) is constant from some sufficiently large index QQ onwards.
This in turn means that the equality mq+1mq=Tm_{q+1}-m_{q}=T^{\prime} holds for all qQq \geqslant Q. Note that bn=Ab_{n}=A is equivalent to the fact that n=mqn=m_{q} for some integer qq. Thus, the sequence ( bnb_{n} ) is periodic for nQn \geqslant Q with period TT^{\prime}, and the proof is complete.

Solution 2. First, observe that the statement holds immediately if bn=Gb_{n}=G for all nn; otherwise, there must be some nn for which bn=Ab_{n}=A. Without loss of generality, we may assume that n=1n=1, as we can translate the sequence without affecting the statement.
We define an arithmetic sequence (pn)\left(p_{n}\right) by taking p0=a0/gcd(a0,a1)p_{0}=a_{0} / \operatorname{gcd}\left(a_{0}, a_{1}\right) and p1=a1/gcd(a0,a1)p_{1}=a_{1} / \operatorname{gcd}\left(a_{0}, a_{1}\right). Note that p0<p1p_{0}<p_{1}, and hence that (pn)\left(p_{n}\right) is an increasing sequence of positive integers, and also that p2=a2/gcd(a0,a1)p_{2}=a_{2} / \operatorname{gcd}\left(a_{0}, a_{1}\right).
We also define a sequence of positive integers dn=anan1d_{n}=a_{n}-a_{n-1} and a sequence of positive rational numbers qn=an/an1q_{n}=a_{n} / a_{n-1}.
Then the following facts are immediate consequences of the definitions:
- if bn=Gb_{n}=G, then qn+1=qnq_{n+1}=q_{n} and dn+1=dnqnd_{n+1}=d_{n} q_{n};
- if bn=Ab_{n}=A, then dn+1=dnd_{n+1}=d_{n};
- q1=p1/p0q_{1}=p_{1} / p_{0};
- if bn=Ab_{n}=A and qn=pi/pi1q_{n}=p_{i} / p_{i-1}, then qn+1=pi+1/piq_{n+1}=p_{i+1} / p_{i}.
Now, let kik_{i} be the number of integers nn for which bn=Gb_{n}=G and qn=pi/pi1q_{n}=p_{i} / p_{i-1}. If some kik_{i} is infinite then bnb_{n} is eventually always GG; otherwise, all values of kik_{i} are nonnegative integers.
The sequence of values for dnd_{n} can be written as
d0,d0p1p0,,d0(p1p0)k1,d0(p1p0)k1p2p1,,d0(p1p0)k1(p2p1)k2, d_{0}, d_{0} \frac{p_{1}}{p_{0}}, \ldots, d_{0}\left(\frac{p_{1}}{p_{0}}\right)^{k_{1}}, d_{0}\left(\frac{p_{1}}{p_{0}}\right)^{k_{1}} \frac{p_{2}}{p_{1}}, \ldots, d_{0}\left(\frac{p_{1}}{p_{0}}\right)^{k_{1}}\left(\frac{p_{2}}{p_{1}}\right)^{k_{2}}, \ldots
and in particular all terms in this sequence are positive integers. Furthermore, pip_{i} and pi+1p_{i+1} are coprime for all ii, so the following sequence consists entirely of positive integers:
u0=d0p0k1u1=d0p0k1p1k1k2u2=d0p0k1p1k1k2p2k2k3 \begin{aligned} u_{0} & =d_{0} p_{0}^{-k_{1}} \\ u_{1} & =d_{0} p_{0}^{-k_{1}} p_{1}^{k_{1}-k_{2}} \\ u_{2} & =d_{0} p_{0}^{-k_{1}} p_{1}^{k_{1}-k_{2}} p_{2}^{k_{2}-k_{3}} \\ & \vdots \end{aligned}
We will prove that kik_{i} is eventually constant, which implies that the sequence of bnb_{n} is eventually periodic with period consisting of kk copies of GG followed by an AA (where kk is that constant value).
Observe that either kik_{i} is unbounded, or is bounded with eventual maximum kk for some constant kk. In the second case, let r0r_{0} be minimal such that kr0=kk_{r_{0}}=k; in the first case let r0=0r_{0}=0. We will construct an infinite sequence of integers as follows:
- If kri+1krik_{r_{i}+1} \geqslant k_{r_{i}}, then ri+1=ri+1r_{i+1}=r_{i}+1
- If kri+1<krik_{r_{i}+1}<k_{r_{i}}, then ri+1r_{i+1} is the minimal positive integer greater than rir_{i} such that kri+1krik_{r_{i+1}} \geqslant k_{r_{i}}. Observe that in the second case, such an ri+1r_{i+1} must exist by our construction of r0r_{0}.
We claim that uri+1uriu_{r_{i+1}} \leqslant u_{r_{i}} with equality only if kri+1=krik_{r_{i}+1}=k_{r_{i}} (so ri+1=ri+1r_{i+1}=r_{i}+1 ). Indeed, if kri+1krik_{r_{i}+1} \geqslant k_{r_{i}} then
uri+1=uri+1=uriprikrikri+1uri u_{r_{i+1}}=u_{r_{i}+1}=u_{r_{i}} p_{r_{i}}^{k_{r_{i}}-k_{r_{i}+1}} \leqslant u_{r_{i}}
with equality if and only if kri=kri+1k_{r_{i}}=k_{r_{i}+1}.
Otherwise, we have
uri+1uri=prikrikri+1pri+1kri+1kri+2pri+11kri+11kri+1 \frac{u_{r_{i+1}}}{u_{r_{i}}}=p_{r_{i}}^{k_{r_{i}}-k_{r_{i}+1}} p_{r_{i}+1}^{k_{r_{i}+1}-k_{r_{i}+2}} \cdots p_{r_{i+1}-1}^{k_{r_{i+1}-1}-k_{r_{i+1}}}
so we just need to show that the right hand side is strictly less than 1 . But this follows because
prikrikri+1pri+1kri+1kri+2pri+11kri+11kri+1<pri+1krikri+2pri+2kri+2kri+3pri+11kri+11kri+1<pri+2krikri+3pri+3kri+3kri+4pri+11kri+11kri+1<pri+11krikri+11 \begin{aligned} p_{r_{i}}^{k_{r_{i}}-k_{r_{i}+1}} p_{r_{i}+1}^{k_{r_{i}+1}-k_{r_{i}+2}} \cdots p_{r_{i+1}-1}^{k_{r_{i+1}-1}-k_{r_{i+1}}} & <p_{r_{i}+1}^{k_{r_{i}}-k_{r_{i}+2}} p_{r_{i}+2}^{k_{r_{i}+2}-k_{r_{i}+3}} \cdots p_{r_{i+1}-1}^{k_{r_{i+1}-1}-k_{r_{i+1}}} \\ & <p_{r_{i}+2}^{k_{r_{i}}-k_{r_{i}+3}} p_{r_{i}+3}^{k_{r_{i}+3}-k_{r_{i}+4}} \cdots p_{r_{i+1}-1}^{k_{r_{i+1}-1}-k_{r_{i+1}}} \\ & \vdots \\ & <p_{r_{i+1}-1}^{k_{r_{i}-k_{r_{i+1}}}} \\ & \leqslant 1 \end{aligned}
where each inequality besides the last follows from the fact that pj<pj+1p_{j}<p_{j+1} and kri>kjk_{r_{i}}>k_{j} for j<ri+1j<r_{i+1}, and the last follows from the fact that krikri+1k_{r_{i}} \leqslant k_{r_{i+1}}.
Finally, the sequence uriu_{r_{i}} is an infinite nonincreasing sequence of positive integers so must eventually be constant, yielding the claim.

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