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Algebra Difficulty 6.7 National Olympiad Prove it Austria

In an arithmetic sequence, the differences between successive elements are all equal. We wish to consider integer sequences, in which the differences between successive elements are equal to the sum of all previous such differences. Which of these sequences with a0=2012a_0 = 2012 and 1d=a1a0431 \le d = a_1 - a_0 \le 43 contain perfect squares?

Solution

For n1n \ge 1 we have
an+1an=(anan1)+(an1an2)++(a1a0)=ana0, a_{n+1} - a_n = (a_n - a_{n-1}) + (a_{n-1} - a_{n-2}) + \dots + (a_1 - a_0) = a_n - a_0,
which yields an+1=2ana0a_{n+1} = 2a_n - a_0. The sequence can therefore be written in the form
a0=2012, a1=2012+d, a2=2012+2d, , an=2012+2n1d,  a_0 = 2012,\ a_1 = 2012 + d,\ a_2 = 2012 + 2d,\ \dots,\ a_n = 2012 + 2^{n-1}d,\ \dots
For n3n \ge 3 we therefore have an=4(503+2n3d)a_n = 4 \cdot (503 + 2^{n-3}d). Since 503+2n3d3(mod4)503 + 2^{n-3}d \equiv 3 \pmod 4 holds for n5n \ge 5, we see that ana_n can never be a perfect square for n5n \ge 5. The only numbers in the sequence that can possibly be perfect squares are therefore
a0=2012, a1=2012+d, a2=2012+2d, a3=4(503+d) or a4=4(503+2d) a_0 = 2012,\ a_1 = 2012 + d,\ a_2 = 2012 + 2d,\ a_3 = 4(503 + d) \text{ or } a_4 = 4(503 + 2d)
with 1d431 \le d \le 43. Since 2012=a0<a42012+843=23562012 = a_0 < a_4 \le 2012 + 8 \cdot 43 = 2356, the only perfect squares that can occur in the sequences must lie between 2012 and 2356, i.e.
452=2025=2012+13,462=2116=2012+104=2012+252=2012+426=2012+813,472=2209=2012+197 or482=2304=2012+292=2012+2146=2012+473. \begin{align*} 45^2 &= 2025 = 2012 + 13, \\ 46^2 &= 2116 = 2012 + 104 = 2012 + 2 \cdot 52 = 2012 + 4 \cdot 26 = 2012 + 8 \cdot 13, \\ 47^2 &= 2209 = 2012 + 197 \text{ or} \\ 48^2 &= 2304 = 2012 + 292 = 2012 + 2 \cdot 146 = 2012 + 4 \cdot 73. \end{align*}
Since we must have d43d \le 43, the only sequences of the required type containing perfect squares are those with d=13d=13 (which contains 2025 and 2116) and with d=26d=26 (which also contains 2116). \square

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