Let a0,a1,a2,… be an infinite strictly increasing sequence of positive integers such that for each n⩾1 we have an∈{2an−1+an+1,an−1⋅an+1} Let b1,b2,… be an infinite sequence of letters defined as bn={A,G, if an=21(an−1+an+1) otherwise Prove that there exist positive integers n0 and d such that for all n⩾n0 we have bn+d=bn.
Solution
Solution 1. We will show that the eventual period of sequence (bn) consists of any fixed number of occurrences of G (possibly zero) followed by a single A. We look at the ratios of consecutive terms of the sequence (an). Let C and D be coprime positive integers such that a1/a0=(C+D)/C. If bn=G then an/an−1=an+1/an. If bn=A and an/an−1=(C+kD)/(C+(k−1)D) for some positive integer k then anan+1=an2an−an−1=C+kDC+(k+1)D Thus, by induction, there is a sequence of positive integers (kn) for n⩾1 which satisfies an/an−1=(C+knD)/(C+(kn−1)D) for all positive integers n. Moreover, we have k1=1 and kn+1={kn,kn+1, if bn=G if bn=A If there are only finitely many values of n such that bn=A then the problem statement obviously holds (we can choose d=1 ). Thus, we may assume that bn=A for infinitely many n. This means that the sequence ( kn ) attains all positive integer values. Given a value q⩾1, denote by mq the last index where value q occurs, that is, the index such that kmq=q and kmq+1=q+1. Our aim is to prove that the sequence of differences (mq+1−mq) is eventually constant. We first show that it is bounded above. To that end, fix t⩾1 (we will choose a suitably large t later on) and consider a sequence s(t)0,s(t)1,… defined for q⩾1 by s(t)q=amq/(C+qD)t. We note two properties of s(t)q. First, simple algebra gives s(t)q+1=(C+(q+1)D)tamq+1=(C+(q+1)D)tamq(C+qDC+(q+1)D)mq+1−mq=(C+qD)tamq(C+qDC+(q+1)D)mq+1−mq−t=s(t)q(C+qDC+(q+1)D)mq+1−mq−t 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+1−mq<tmq+1−mq=tmq+1−mq>t Second, suppose that mq+1−mq⩾t for some positive integer q. We claim that in that case s(t)q is a positive integer. Indeed, we have amq+t=amq(C+qDC+(q+1)D)t, because kmq+1=kmq+2=⋯=kmq+t=q+1. Since C+(q+1)D and C+qD are coprime we have that s(t)q=(C+qD)tamq is an integer. We choose T⩾1 such that s(T)1<1 (which exists since C+D>1 ). Then, by induction we can show that s(T)q<1 for all q. Indeed, since s(T)q<1, it is not a positive integer; this means that mq+1−mq<T by the second property above. Hence by the first property above we have s(T)q+1<s(T)q<1, as needed. This means that mq+1−mq<T for all q. Thus there is a largest integer T′⩽T with the property that an equality mq+1−mq=T′ holds for infinitely many values of q. Therefore, for all sufficiently large values of q we have the inequality mq+1−mq⩽T′, which by the first property implies that the sequence s(T′) is decreasing from some point on. Moreover, we know that the sequence attains infinitely many integer values since there are infinitely many values of q for which we have the equality mq+1−mq=T′. As a consequence, the sequence s(T′) is constant from some sufficiently large index Q onwards. This in turn means that the equality mq+1−mq=T′ holds for all q⩾Q. Note that bn=A is equivalent to the fact that n=mq for some integer q. Thus, the sequence ( bn ) is periodic for n⩾Q with period T′, and the proof is complete.
Solution 2. First, observe that the statement holds immediately if bn=G for all n; otherwise, there must be some n for which bn=A. Without loss of generality, we may assume that n=1, as we can translate the sequence without affecting the statement. We define an arithmetic sequence (pn) by taking p0=a0/gcd(a0,a1) and p1=a1/gcd(a0,a1). Note that p0<p1, and hence that (pn) is an increasing sequence of positive integers, and also that p2=a2/gcd(a0,a1). We also define a sequence of positive integers dn=an−an−1 and a sequence of positive rational numbers qn=an/an−1. Then the following facts are immediate consequences of the definitions: - if bn=G, then qn+1=qn and dn+1=dnqn; - if bn=A, then dn+1=dn; - q1=p1/p0; - if bn=A and qn=pi/pi−1, then qn+1=pi+1/pi. Now, let ki be the number of integers n for which bn=G and qn=pi/pi−1. If some ki is infinite then bn is eventually always G; otherwise, all values of ki are nonnegative integers. The sequence of values for dn can be written as d0,d0p0p1,…,d0(p0p1)k1,d0(p0p1)k1p1p2,…,d0(p0p1)k1(p1p2)k2,… and in particular all terms in this sequence are positive integers. Furthermore, pi and pi+1 are coprime for all i, so the following sequence consists entirely of positive integers: u0u1u2=d0p0−k1=d0p0−k1p1k1−k2=d0p0−k1p1k1−k2p2k2−k3⋮ We will prove that ki is eventually constant, which implies that the sequence of bn is eventually periodic with period consisting of k copies of G followed by an A (where k is that constant value). Observe that either ki is unbounded, or is bounded with eventual maximum k for some constant k. In the second case, let r0 be minimal such that kr0=k; in the first case let r0=0. We will construct an infinite sequence of integers as follows: - If kri+1⩾kri, then ri+1=ri+1 - If kri+1<kri, then ri+1 is the minimal positive integer greater than ri such that kri+1⩾kri. Observe that in the second case, such an ri+1 must exist by our construction of r0. We claim that uri+1⩽uri with equality only if kri+1=kri (so ri+1=ri+1 ). Indeed, if kri+1⩾kri then uri+1=uri+1=uriprikri−kri+1⩽uri with equality if and only if kri=kri+1. Otherwise, we have uriuri+1=prikri−kri+1pri+1kri+1−kri+2⋯pri+1−1kri+1−1−kri+1 so we just need to show that the right hand side is strictly less than 1 . But this follows because prikri−kri+1pri+1kri+1−kri+2⋯pri+1−1kri+1−1−kri+1<pri+1kri−kri+2pri+2kri+2−kri+3⋯pri+1−1kri+1−1−kri+1<pri+2kri−kri+3pri+3kri+3−kri+4⋯pri+1−1kri+1−1−kri+1⋮<pri+1−1kri−kri+1⩽1 where each inequality besides the last follows from the fact that pj<pj+1 and kri>kj for j<ri+1, and the last follows from the fact that kri⩽kri+1. Finally, the sequence uri is an infinite nonincreasing sequence of positive integers so must eventually be constant, yielding the claim.
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