Maths Olympiad Prep

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Estonija, 2010

Algebra Difficulty 6.6 National Olympiad Prove it Estonia

Call pure any positive integer nn that does not occur in any integer sequence c0,c1,c2,…c_0, c_1, c_2, \dots, where 0<c0<n0 < c_0 < n and
ci={12ci−1if ci−1 is even,3ci−1−1if ci−1 is odd, c_i = \begin{cases} \frac{1}{2}c_{i-1} & \text{if } c_{i-1} \text{ is even,} \\ 3c_{i-1} - 1 & \text{if } c_{i-1} \text{ is odd,} \end{cases}
for every i≥1i \ge 1. (For instance, 1010 is not pure since it occurs in the sequence 5,14,7,20,10,…5, 14, 7, 20, 10, \ldots ...)

a) Is every positive multiple of 33 pure?

b) Prove that if an integer n>1n > 1 is pure but not divisible by 33, then n+1n + 1 is divisible by 66.

(Seniors.)

Solution

a) Note that 3ci−1−13c_{i-1} - 1 is never divisible by 33 and if 12ci−1\frac{1}{2}c_{i-1} is divisible by 33, then also ci−1c_{i-1} is divisible by 33. Thus, if some term ck=nc_k = n is divisible by 33, then, up to it, only dividing by 22 is used to build the terms (i.e., ci=12ci−1c_i = \frac{1}{2}c_{i-1} for every ii such that 1≤i≤k1 \le i \le k) and, consequently, c0>c1>⋯>ck=nc_0 > c_1 > \dots > c_k = n. But this contradicts the condition c0<nc_0 < n. Hence every positive multiple of 33 is pure.

b) If nn is not divisible by 33, then n=3k+1n = 3k + 1 or n=6k+2n = 6k + 2 or n=6k+5n = 6k + 5. If n=3k+1n = 3k + 1, then taking c0=2k+1c_0 = 2k + 1 gives c1=6k+2c_1 = 6k + 2 and c2=3k+1=nc_2 = 3k + 1 = n. Thereby k>0k > 0 since n>1n > 1, therefore c0<nc_0 < n. Hence none of such numbers nn is pure. If n=6k+2n = 6k + 2, then taking c0=2k+1c_0 = 2k + 1 gives c1=6k+2=nc_1 = 6k + 2 = n, whereby c0<nc_0 < n. Hence also none of such numbers nn is pure. Hence, among the positive integers n>1n > 1 not divisible by 33, only those of the form n=6k+5n = 6k + 5 can be pure.

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