Number theoryDifficulty 6.2National OlympiadProve itSingapore
Let f0,f1,… be the Fibonacci sequence: f0=f1=1, fn=fn−1+fn−2 if n≥2. Determine all possible positive integers n so that there is a positive integer a such that fn≤a≤fn+1 and that a(f11+f1f21+f1f2f31+⋯+f1f2…fn1) is an integer.
Solution
The number may be rewritten as f1⋯fna(f2⋯fn+f3⋯fn+⋯+fn−2fn−1fn+fn−1fn+1). If this is an integer, then fn∣a(f2⋯fn+f3⋯fn+⋯+fn−2fn−1fn+fn−1fn+1). Thus fn∣a. First consider the case where n≥2. Then fn≤a≤fn+1<2fn. Hence a=fn. Then f1⋯fn−11(f2⋯fn+f3⋯fn+⋯+fn−2fn−1fn+fn−1fn+1) is an integer. Thus fn−1∣1. Hence n−1=0 or 1. This shows that the only possible values of n are 1 and 2. For n=1, 1=f1≤1≤f2 and a/f1=1/1=1 is an integer. For n=2, f2≤2≤f3 and 2(f11+f1f21)=2(1+21) is an integer.
Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track
puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.
Source: MathNet,
licensed CC-BY-4.0.
Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.