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Algebra Difficulty 7.5 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it Brazil

Given k>0k > 0, the sequence a1,a2,a3,a_1, a_2, a_3, \dots is defined by its first two members and an+2=an+1+knana_{n+2} = a_{n+1} + \frac{k}{n} a_n. For which kk can we write an ana_n as a polynomial in nn? For which kk can we write an+1an=p(n)q(n)\frac{a_{n+1}}{a_n} = \frac{p(n)}{q(n)}, where pp and qq are polynomials?

Solution

Rewrite the equation as n(an+2an+1)an=k\frac{n(a_{n+2}-a_{n+1})}{a_n} = k. If ana_n is a polynomial in nn, say an=r(n)=i=0drinia_n = r(n) = \sum_{i=0}^{d} r_i n^i, then the limit limnn(an+2an+1)an\lim_{n \to \infty} \frac{n(a_{n+2}-a_{n+1})}{a_n} must exist and be equal to kk. But
limnn(an+2an+1)an=limnn(i=0dri(n+2)ii=0dri(n+1)i)i=0drini=limnni=0dri((n+2)i(n+1)i)i=0drini=limnni=0dri((n+2)i1+(n+2)i2(n+1)++(n+1)i1)i=0drini=limnndi=0drinid((1+2n)i1+(1+2n)i2(1+1n)++(1+1n)i1)ndi=0drinid=limnrd((1+2n)d1+(1+2n)d2(1+1n)++(1+1n)d1)rd=d \begin{align*} & \lim_{n \to \infty} \frac{n(a_{n+2} - a_{n+1})}{a_n} \\ &= \lim_{n \to \infty} \frac{n \left( \sum_{i=0}^{d} r_i (n+2)^i - \sum_{i=0}^{d} r_i (n+1)^i \right)}{\sum_{i=0}^{d} r_i n^i} \\ &= \lim_{n \to \infty} \frac{n \sum_{i=0}^{d} r_i ((n+2)^i - (n+1)^i)}{\sum_{i=0}^{d} r_i n^i} \\ &= \lim_{n \to \infty} \frac{n \sum_{i=0}^{d} r_i ((n+2)^{i-1} + (n+2)^{i-2}(n+1) + \dots + (n+1)^{i-1})}{\sum_{i=0}^{d} r_i n^i} \\ &= \lim_{n \to \infty} \frac{n^d \sum_{i=0}^{d} r_i n^{i-d} \left( \left(1+\frac{2}{n}\right)^{i-1} + \left(1+\frac{2}{n}\right)^{i-2} \left(1+\frac{1}{n}\right) + \dots + \left(1+\frac{1}{n}\right)^{i-1} \right)}{n^d \sum_{i=0}^{d} r_i n^{i-d}} \\ &= \lim_{n \to \infty} \frac{r_d \left( \left(1+\frac{2}{n}\right)^{d-1} + \left(1+\frac{2}{n}\right)^{d-2} \left(1+\frac{1}{n}\right) + \dots + \left(1+\frac{1}{n}\right)^{d-1} \right)}{r_d} = d \end{align*}
So if ana_n is a polynomial in nn then kk is the degree of ana_n and is a nonnegative integer.

Now we need to show an example of polynomial rk(n)r_k(n) for each nonnegative integer kk. For k=0k = 0 and k=1k = 1, one may consider r0(n)=0r_0(n) = 0 and r1(n)=nr_1(n) = n. For k2k \ge 2, let's find a polynomial
r(n)=nk+rk1nk1++r1n+r0 r(n) = n^k + r_{k-1} n^{k-1} + \cdots + r_1 n + r_0
such that n(r(n+2)r(n+1))=kr(n)n(r(n+2) - r(n+1)) = kr(n) for all nn.
Expanding (n+2)i(n + 2)^i and (n+1)i(n + 1)^i via binomial theorem, we obtain the system of equations
3(kk2)+(k1k2)rk1=krk17(kk3)+3(k1k3)rk1+(k2k3)rk2=krk2(2j1)(kkj)+(2j11)(k1kj)rk1++(kj+1kj)rkj+1=krkj+1 \begin{align*} & 3 \binom{k}{k-2} + \binom{k-1}{k-2} r_{k-1} = k r_{k-1} \\ & 7 \binom{k}{k-3} + 3 \binom{k-1}{k-3} r_{k-1} + \binom{k-2}{k-3} r_{k-2} = k r_{k-2} \\ & \qquad \dots \\ & (2^j - 1) \binom{k}{k-j} + (2^{j-1} - 1) \binom{k-1}{k-j} r_{k-1} + \dots + \binom{k-j+1}{k-j} r_{k-j+1} = k r_{k-j+1} \\ & \qquad \dots \end{align*}
Since (kj+1kj)=kj+1k\binom{k-j+1}{k-j} = k-j+1 \neq k it is possible to find rkj+1r_{k-j+1} in each equation and the system is possible, so there is such a polynomial.

For the second part, rewrite the given equation as n(an+2an+11)=kanan+1n\left(\frac{a_{n+2}}{a_{n+1}} - 1\right) = k \frac{a_n}{a_{n+1}}. If there exists polynomials pp and qq such that an+1an=p(n)q(n)\frac{a_{n+1}}{a_n} = \frac{p(n)}{q(n)}, then
n(p(n+1)q(n+1)1)=kq(n)p(n)    n(p(n+1)q(n+1))p(n)=kq(n+1)q(n) n \left( \frac{p(n+1)}{q(n+1)} - 1 \right) = k \frac{q(n)}{p(n)} \iff n(p(n+1) - q(n+1))p(n) = kq(n+1)q(n)
We may suppose without loss of generality that p(n)p(n) and q(n)q(n) don't have common factors. Let mm and mm' be the degrees of pp and qq, respectively. If m=mm = m' then the right hand side has degree 2m2m and the degree of p(n+1)q(n+1)p(n+1) - q(n+1) is m1m-1. This means that the leading coefficients of pp and qq are equal. Since p(n)p(n) and q(n)q(n) don't have common factors, p(n)p(n) divides q(n+1)q(n+1), which in this case means p(n)=q(n+1)p(n) = q(n+1). Substituting yields n(q(n+2)q(n+1))=kq(n)n(q(n+2) - q(n+1)) = kq(n), and qq satisfies the first part of the problem, and thus kk must be a nonnegative integer.

If mmm \neq m' by checking degrees we must have 1+max(m,m)+m=2m2m1+m+m    m<m1+m+m=2m    m=m+11 + \max(m, m') + m = 2m' \Rightarrow 2m' \le 1 + m + m' \iff m < m' \Rightarrow 1 + m' + m = 2m' \iff m' = m + 1. The polynomials q(n+1)q(n+1) and p(n+1)q(n+1)p(n+1) - q(n+1) don't have common factors, so q(n)q(n) divides p(n+1)q(n+1)p(n+1) - q(n+1). These two polynomials have both degree mm' and opposite leading coefficients, so p(n+1)=q(n+1)q(n)p(n+1) = q(n+1) - q(n). Substituting yields the polynomial identity n(q(n)q(n1))=kq(n+1)n(q(n) - q(n-1)) = -kq(n+1). Now if r(n)=q(1n)r(n) = q(1-n) and m=nm = -n then n(r(m+2)r(m+1))=kr(m)n(r(m+2) - r(m+1)) = -kr(m) and we reduce the problem to the first part again for k-k instead of kk. So, in this case, kk must be a nonpositive integer.

Conversely, it's not hard to obtain p(n)p(n) and q(n)q(n) from the above case, so the answer for the second part is kk integer.

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