AlgebraDifficulty 5.1AIME, harderProve itUnited States
Problem: A sequence of positive integers a1,a2,…,a2017 has the property that for all integers m where 1≤m≤2017, 3(∑i=1mai)2=∑i=1mai3. Compute a1337.
Solution
Solution: I claim that ai=3i for all i. We can conjecture that the sequence should just be the positive multiples of three because the natural numbers satisfy the property that the square of their sum is the sum of their cubes, and prove this by induction. At i=1, we have that 3ai2=ai3, so ai=3. Now assuming this holds for i=m, we see that 3(i=1∑m+1ai)2=3(am+1+i=1∑mai)2=3am+12+i=1∑mai3+6am+1i=1∑mai=3am+12+i=1∑mai3+6am+1⋅3(2m(m+1))=i=1∑m+1ai3 Therefore, am+1300=3am+12+am+1(9m2+9m)=am+12−3am+1−(9m2+9m)=(am+1−(3m+3))(am+1+3m) and because the sequence is positive, am+1=3m+3, which completes the induction. Then a1337=1337⋅3=4011.
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