Let a1,a2,a3,… be a sequence of positive integers such that a1=2021 and an+1−an=⌊an⌋. Show that there are infinitely many odd numbers and infinitely many even numbers in this sequence.
Solution
Suppose there are not infinitely many odd numbers or not infinitely many even numbers, then there exists an N such that the sequence aN,aN+1,aN+2,… all have the same parity. So when n≥N, bn:=⌊an⌋=an+1−an is even. Let kn=an−bn2, then 0≤kn≤2bn. We have an+1=an+bn2=2bn2+kn⟹bn+1≤2bn2+kn<bn+1+1, therefore from an+2=2bn+12+kn+1=2bn2+kn+bn+12, an+2≤4bn2+2kn≤4bn2+4bn<(2bn+1)2 an+2>2bn2+kn+(2bn2+kn−1)2=4bn2+2kn+1−22bn2+kn. Note that 4bn2+2kn+1−22bn2+kn≥(2bn−1)2⟺2bn+kn≥2bn2+kn, and the latter is clearly true, so we have bn+2=⌊an+2⌋=2bn−1 or 2bn. Since bn+2 is even when n+2≥N, we have bn+2=2bn. Thus we have bN+2s=2sbN,bN+2s+1=2sbN+1. bN+2s2=aN+2s+1−aN+2s=bN+2s+12−bN+2s2+kN+2s+1−kN+2s, we have kN+2s+1−kN+2s=2bN+2s2−bN+2s+12=22s(2bN2−bN+12), from 0≤kn≤2bn, we have 22s∣2bN2−bN+12∣≤2bN+2s+1+2bN+2s=2s+1(bN+1+bN). Note that 2 is not a perfect square, so 2bN2−bN+12=0, hence taking s sufficiently large yields a contradiction.
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