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Algebra Difficulty 5.2 AIME, harder Prove it Taiwan

Define a function f:(0,1)(0,1)f : (0,1) \to (0,1) as follows
f(x)={x+12if x<12,x2if x12. f(x) = \begin{cases} x + \frac{1}{2} & \text{if } x < \frac{1}{2}, \\ x^2 & \text{if } x \ge \frac{1}{2}. \end{cases}
Let a,ba, b be two real numbers with 0<a<b<10 < a < b < 1. Define two sequences as follows:
a0=a,b0=b,and an=f(an1),bn=f(bn1),n=1,2,a_0 = a, b_0 = b, \text{and } a_n = f(a_{n-1}), b_n = f(b_{n-1}), n = 1, 2, \dots
Prove that there exists a positive integer nn such that
(anan1)(bnbn1)<0.(a_n - a_{n-1})(b_n - b_{n-1}) < 0.

Solution

Suppose there exist 0<a<b<10 < a < b < 1 such that there is no positive integer nn making (anan+1)(bnbn+1)<0(a_n - a_{n+1})(b_n - b_{n+1}) < 0.
f(x)x{>0if x<12,<0if x12. f(x) - x \begin{cases} > 0 & \text{if } x < \frac{1}{2}, \\ < 0 & \text{if } x \ge \frac{1}{2}. \end{cases}
Then for a given positive integer nn, it must be that an,bn(0,12)a_n, b_n \in (0, \frac{1}{2}) or an,bn[12,1)a_n, b_n \in [\frac{1}{2}, 1).
Let dn=bnand_n = b_n - a_n, then if an,bn(0,12)a_n, b_n \in (0, \frac{1}{2}) we have dn+1=dnd_{n+1} = d_n, otherwise we have
dn+1=dn(an+bn)dn(1+dn), d_{n+1} = d_n(a_n + b_n) \ge d_n(1 + d_n),
so dnd_n is an increasing sequence.
Suppose 0<an<bn<120 < a_n < b_n < \frac{1}{2}, then 12<an<bn<1\frac{1}{2} < a_n < b_n < 1. In any case we have dn+2dn(1+dn)d_{n+2} \ge d_n(1+d_n).
Hence d2m+1d1(1+d1)md1(1+md1)d_{2m+1} \ge d_1(1+d_1)^m \ge d_1(1+md_1).
There exists a sufficiently large mm such that
d1(1+md1)>1, d_1(1+md_1) > 1,
but this is impossible. Hence there exists a positive integer nn such that (anan+1)(bnbn+1)<0(a_n - a_{n+1})(b_n - b_{n+1}) < 0.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement translated into English from zh; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.