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Algebra Difficulty 6.5 National olympiad Prove it Brazil

Consider the sequence (an)nN(a_n)_{n \in \mathbb{N}} with a0=a1=a2=a3=1a_0 = a_1 = a_2 = a_3 = 1 and anan4=an1an3+an22a_n a_{n-4} = a_{n-1} a_{n-3} + a_{n-2}^2, n4n \ge 4. Prove that all the terms of this sequence are integer numbers.

Solution

Let's prove by induction that both ana_n is an integer and gcd(an,an1)=gcd(an,an2)=gcd(an,an3)=1\gcd(a_n, a_{n-1}) = \gcd(a_n, a_{n-2}) = \gcd(a_n, a_{n-3}) = 1. It is certainly true for n=3n = 3 and direct substitutions show that it is true for n7n \le 7. Suppose that it's true for nkn \le k. First we prove that ak+1a_{k+1} is an integer by showing that ak3akak2+ak12a_{k-3} \mid a_k a_{k-2} + a_{k-1}^2.
In fact,
ak2ak+ak12=ak5ak3+ak42ak6ak3ak1+ak22ak4+(ak4ak2+ak32ak5)2=ak52(ak5ak3+ak42)(ak3ak1+ak22)+ak4ak6(ak4ak2+ak32)2ak4ak6ak52 \begin{aligned} a_{k-2}a_k + a_{k-1}^2 &= \frac{a_{k-5}a_{k-3} + a_{k-4}^2}{a_{k-6}} \cdot \frac{a_{k-3}a_{k-1} + a_{k-2}^2}{a_{k-4}} + \left( \frac{a_{k-4}a_{k-2} + a_{k-3}^2}{a_{k-5}} \right)^2 \\ &= \frac{a_{k-5}^2(a_{k-5}a_{k-3} + a_{k-4}^2) \cdot (a_{k-3}a_{k-1} + a_{k-2}^2) + a_{k-4}a_{k-6}(a_{k-4}a_{k-2} + a_{k-3}^2)^2}{a_{k-4}a_{k-6}a_{k-5}^2} \end{aligned}
Reducing modulo ak3a_{k-3} and noting that gcd(ak3,ak4)=gcd(ak3,ak5)=gcd(ak3,ak6)=1\gcd(a_{k-3}, a_{k-4}) = \gcd(a_{k-3}, a_{k-5}) = \gcd(a_{k-3}, a_{k-6}) = 1 by induction hypothesis, this is equivalent to prove that
ak22ak42(ak52+ak4ak6)0(modak3) a_{k-2}^2 a_{k-4}^2 (a_{k-5}^2 + a_{k-4} a_{k-6}) \equiv 0 \pmod{a_{k-3}}
But ak52+ak4ak6=ak3ak7a_{k-5}^2 + a_{k-4}a_{k-6} = a_{k-3}a_{k-7}, so ak3akak2+ak12a_{k-3} \mid a_k a_{k-2} + a_{k-1}^2.
Now the gcd\gcd part. Notice that
gcd(ak+1,ak)=gcd(akak2+ak12ak4,ak)gcd(akak2+ak12,ak)=gcd(ak12,ak)=1 \begin{aligned} \gcd(a_{k+1}, a_k) &= \gcd\left(\frac{a_k a_{k-2} + a_{k-1}^2}{a_{k-4}}, a_k\right) \\ &\le \gcd(a_k a_{k-2} + a_{k-1}^2, a_k) = \gcd(a_{k-1}^2, a_k) = 1 \end{aligned}
where the last equality follows from the induction hypothesis. The other equalities follow similarly:
gcd(ak+1,ak1)gcd(akak2+ak12,ak1)=gcd(a2ak2,ak1)=1 \gcd(a_{k+1}, a_{k-1}) \le \gcd(a_k a_{k-2} + a_{k-1}^2, a_{k-1}) = \gcd(a_2 a_{k-2}, a_{k-1}) = 1
gcd(ak+1,ak2)gcd(akak2+ak12,ak2)=gcd(ak12,ak1)=1 \gcd(a_{k+1}, a_{k-2}) \le \gcd(a_k a_{k-2} + a_{k-1}^2, a_{k-2}) = \gcd(a_{k-1}^2, a_{k-1}) = 1
and the induction step is complete.

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