Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /52 of 104

Algebra Difficulty 5.7 AIME, harder Prove it Bulgaria

Problem:
Let a>1a > 1 be a positive integer. The sequence a1,a2,,an,a_{1}, a_{2}, \ldots, a_{n}, \ldots is defined by a1=1a_{1} = 1, a2=aa_{2} = a and an+2=aan+1ana_{n+2} = a \cdot a_{n+1} - a_{n} for n1n \geq 1. Prove that the prime factors of its terms are infinitely many.

Solution

Solution:
We shall prove by induction on mm that an+m=aman+1am1ana_{n+m} = a_{m} a_{n+1} - a_{m-1} a_{n} for every two positive integers n,m2n, m \geq 2. For m=2m = 2 this is the given recurrence relation. If for some m2m \geq 2 the equality is satisfied for every nn, then
am+1+n=am+(n+1)=aman+2am1an+1==am(aan+1an)am1an+1==(aamam1)an+1aman=am+1an+1aman \begin{aligned} a_{m+1+n} & = a_{m+(n+1)} = a_{m} a_{n+2} - a_{m-1} a_{n+1} = \\ & = a_{m} \left(a a_{n+1} - a_{n}\right) - a_{m-1} a_{n+1} = \\ & = \left(a a_{m} - a_{m-1}\right) a_{n+1} - a_{m} a_{n} = a_{m+1} a_{n+1} - a_{m} a_{n} \end{aligned}
which completes the induction.

The recurrence relation shows that gcd(an,an1)=1\gcd\left(a_{n}, a_{n-1}\right) = 1 for every n2n \geq 2. This and an+m=aman+1am1ana_{n+m} = a_{m} a_{n+1} - a_{m-1} a_{n} imply that gcd(am+n,am)=gcd(am,an)\gcd\left(a_{m+n}, a_{m}\right) = \gcd\left(a_{m}, a_{n}\right). Using induction again we conclude that for every two positive integers mm and nn we have gcd(am,an)=agcd(m,n)\gcd\left(a_{m}, a_{n}\right) = a_{\gcd(m, n)}. Now the assertion follows immediately: if 1<n1<n2<<nk<1 < n_{1} < n_{2} < \cdots < n_{k} < \cdots is an infinite sequence of relatively prime integers then gcd(ani,anj)=agcd(ni,nj)=a1=1\gcd\left(a_{n_{i}}, a_{n_{j}}\right) = a_{\gcd\left(n_{i}, n_{j}\right)} = a_{1} = 1, i.e., an1,an2,,ank,a_{n_{1}}, a_{n_{2}}, \ldots, a_{n_{k}}, \ldots are relatively prime. Therefore the set of their prime factors is infinite.

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.