Maths Olympiad Prep

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Hrvatska, 2011

Algebra Difficulty 6.8 National Olympiad Prove it Croatia

Let aa, b>1b > 1 be relatively prime positive integers. Define a sequence
x1=a,x2=b,xn=xn−12+xn−22xn−1+xn−2for n≥3. x_1 = a, \quad x_2 = b, \quad x_n = \frac{x_{n-1}^2 + x_{n-2}^2}{x_{n-1} + x_{n-2}} \quad \text{for } n \ge 3.
Prove that xnx_n is not an integer for n≥3n \ge 3. (Tonći Kokan)

Solution

Notice that xn>1x_n > 1, for all n∈Nn \in \mathbb{N}. We also notice that all xnx_n are rational so we can write xn=pnqnx_n = \frac{p_n}{q_n}, where pnp_n and qnq_n are positive integers and M(pn,qn)=1M(p_n, q_n) = 1.

First let us prove that pnp_n and pn+1p_{n+1} are relatively prime for every n∈Nn \in \mathbb{N}. We will prove that by induction. Obviously M(p1,p2)=M(a,b)=1M(p_1, p_2) = M(a, b) = 1, i.e. p1p_1 and p2p_2 are relatively prime. Now we assume that M(pn,pn+1)=1M(p_n, p_{n+1}) = 1 for some nn. Then
xn+2=pn2qn2+pn+12qn+12pnqn+pn+1qn+1=pn2qn+12+pn+12qn2qnqn+1(pnqn+1+pn+1qn)=pn+2qn+2 x_{n+2} = \frac{\frac{p_n^2}{q_n^2} + \frac{p_{n+1}^2}{q_{n+1}^2}}{\frac{p_n}{q_n} + \frac{p_{n+1}}{q_{n+1}}} = \frac{p_n^2 q_{n+1}^2 + p_{n+1}^2 q_n^2}{q_n q_{n+1} (p_n q_{n+1} + p_{n+1} q_n)} = \frac{p_{n+2}}{q_{n+2}}
Since M(pn,pn+1)=1M(p_n, p_{n+1}) = 1 by the inductive hypothesis and M(pn+1,qn+1)=1M(p_{n+1}, q_{n+1}) = 1, we conclude that M(pn+1,pn2qn+12+pn+12qn2)=M(pn+1,pn2qn+12)=1M(p_{n+1}, p_n^2 q_{n+1}^2 + p_{n+1}^2 q_n^2) = M(p_{n+1}, p_n^2 q_{n+1}^2) = 1, whence follows M(pn+1,pn+2)=1M(p_{n+1}, p_{n+2}) = 1. Thereby we have proved our assertion.

Now we want to prove that xnx_n is not an integer for n≥3n \ge 3.
Assume the contrary, that xn+2x_{n+2} is a positive integer for some n∈Nn \in \mathbb{N}. Since
xn+2=pn2qn+12+pn+12qn2qnqn+1(pnqn+1+pn+1qn)=pn2qn+12+pn+12qn2pnqnqn+12+pn+1qn+1qn2 x_{n+2} = \frac{p_n^2 q_{n+1}^2 + p_{n+1}^2 q_n^2}{q_n q_{n+1} (p_n q_{n+1} + p_{n+1} q_n)} = \frac{p_n^2 q_{n+1}^2 + p_{n+1}^2 q_n^2}{p_n q_n q_{n+1}^2 + p_{n+1} q_{n+1} q_n^2}
we conclude that
qn+1∣pn2qn+12+pn+12qn2  ⟹  qn+1∣pn+12qn2  ⟹  qn+1∣qn2 q_{n+1} \mid p_n^2 q_{n+1}^2 + p_{n+1}^2 q_n^2 \implies q_{n+1} \mid p_{n+1}^2 q_n^2 \implies q_{n+1} \mid q_n^2
because pn+1p_{n+1} and qn+1q_{n+1} are relatively prime. Now because of qn+1∣qn2q_{n+1} \mid q_n^2 we have qn+12∣pnqnqn+12+pn+1qn+1qn2  ⟹  qn+12∣pn2qn+12+pn+12qn2  ⟹  qn+12∣qn2q_{n+1}^2 \mid p_n q_n q_{n+1}^2 + p_{n+1} q_{n+1} q_n^2 \implies q_{n+1}^2 \mid p_n^2 q_{n+1}^2 + p_{n+1}^2 q_n^2 \implies q_{n+1}^2 \mid q_n^2.

Analogously,
qn∣pn2qn+12+pn+12qn2  ⟹  qn∣pn2qn+12  ⟹  qn∣qn+12 q_n \mid p_n^2 q_{n+1}^2 + p_{n+1}^2 q_n^2 \implies q_n \mid p_n^2 q_{n+1}^2 \implies q_n \mid q_{n+1}^2
and then
qn2∣pnqnqn+12+pn+1qn+1qn2  ⟹  qn2∣pn2qn+12+pn+12qn2  ⟹  qn2∣qn+12 q_n^2 \mid p_n q_n q_{n+1}^2 + p_{n+1} q_{n+1} q_n^2 \implies q_n^2 \mid p_n^2 q_{n+1}^2 + p_{n+1}^2 q_n^2 \implies q_n^2 \mid q_{n+1}^2

As qn+12∣qn2q_{n+1}^2 \mid q_n^2 and qn2∣qn+12q_n^2 \mid q_{n+1}^2, it follows that qn2=qn+12q_n^2 = q_{n+1}^2, that is qn=qn+1q_n = q_{n+1}, and now we get
xn+2=pn2+pn+12qn(pn+pn+1). x_{n+2} = \frac{p_n^2 + p_{n+1}^2}{q_n (p_n + p_{n+1})}.
This means that
pn+pn+1∣pn2+pn+12  ⟹  pn+pn+1∣2pn+12 p_n + p_{n+1} \mid p_n^2 + p_{n+1}^2 \implies p_n + p_{n+1} \mid 2p_{n+1}^2
because
pn2+pn+12=pn2−pn+12+2pn+12=(pn−pn+1)(pn+pn+1)+2pn+12. p_n^2 + p_{n+1}^2 = p_n^2 - p_{n+1}^2 + 2p_{n+1}^2 = (p_n - p_{n+1}) (p_n + p_{n+1}) + 2p_{n+1}^2.
Let pp be a prime number such that p∣pn+pn+1p \mid p_n + p_{n+1}, and thereby p∣2pn+12p \mid 2p_{n+1}^2.
If p≠2p \neq 2 then p∣pn+12  ⟹  p∣pn+1p \mid p_{n+1}^2 \implies p \mid p_{n+1}, and since p∣pn+pn+1p \mid p_n + p_{n+1}, it follows that p∣pnp \mid p_n which is a contradiction because pnp_n and pn+1p_{n+1} are relatively prime.
If p=2p=2 is the only prime factor, then pn+pn+1p_n + p_{n+1} is a power of 2 bigger than 2 (because pnp_n and pn+1p_{n+1} are bigger than 1). It follows that 4∣pn+pn+14 \mid p_n + p_{n+1} and then
4∣2pn+12  ⟹  2∣pn+12  ⟹  2∣pn+1  ⟹  2∣pn. 4 \mid 2p_{n+1}^2 \implies 2 \mid p_{n+1}^2 \implies 2 \mid p_{n+1} \implies 2 \mid p_n.
which is again a contradiction since M(pn,pn+1)=1M(p_n, p_{n+1}) = 1.
Thereby we have proved that xnx_n is not an integer for n≥3n \ge 3.

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