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Algebra Difficulty 5.0 AIME Prove it Saudi Arabia

Let f:N[0,)f: \mathbb{N} \rightarrow [0, \infty) be a function satisfying the following conditions:

a) f(4)=2f(4) = 2;

b) 1f(0)+f(1)+1f(1)+f(2)++1f(n)+f(n+1)=f(n+1)\frac{1}{f(0) + f(1)} + \frac{1}{f(1) + f(2)} + \ldots + \frac{1}{f(n) + f(n+1)} = f(n+1), for all integers n0n \geq 0.

Find f(n)f(n) in closed form.

Solution

For k0k \geq 0 we get
f(k+2)f(k+1)=1f(k+1)+f(k+2) f(k+2) - f(k+1) = \frac{1}{f(k+1) + f(k+2)}
hence f2(k+2)=f2(k+1)+1f^{2}(k+2) = f^{2}(k+1) + 1. It follows
4=f2(4)=f2(3)+1 4 = f^{2}(4) = f^{2}(3) + 1
hence f(3)=3f(3) = \sqrt{3}. Also, 3=f2(3)=f2(2)+13 = f^{2}(3) = f^{2}(2) + 1 implies
f(2)=2and2=f2(2)=f2(1)+1 f(2) = \sqrt{2} \quad \text{and} \quad 2 = f^{2}(2) = f^{2}(1) + 1
gives f(1)=1f(1) = 1. Finally, f(1)=1f(0)+f(1)f(1) = \frac{1}{f(0) + f(1)} implies
1=1f(0)+1 1 = \frac{1}{f(0) + 1}
hence f(0)=0f(0) = 0.

Now we prove by induction that for any n0n \geq 0, we have f(n)=nf(n) = \sqrt{n}. Assume that f(k+1)=k+1f(k+1) = \sqrt{k+1}, and get
f2(k+2)=f2(k+1)+1=k+1+1=k+2 f^{2}(k+2) = f^{2}(k+1) + 1 = k+1+1 = k+2
hence f(k+2)=k+2f(k+2) = \sqrt{k+2} and we are done.

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