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Algebra Difficulty 6.4 National Olympiad Prove it Ukraine

A sequence of real numbers: a0,a1,a2,,a2012a_0, a_1, a_2, \dots, a_{2012} satisfies the following conditions:
a0a1=3120a1a2=3221a2a3==3201122010a2011a2012=3201222011a2012a0. |a_0 - a_1| = \frac{3^1}{2^0} |a_1 - a_2| = \frac{3^2}{2^1} |a_2 - a_3| = \dots = \frac{3^{2011}}{2^{2010}} |a_{2011} - a_{2012}| = \frac{3^{2012}}{2^{2011}} |a_{2012} - a_0|.
Which values the subtraction: a0a1006a_0 - a_{1006} can take?

Solution

Let a0a1=k|a_0 - a_1| = k. We can write down the equations:
a0a1=±k,a1a2=±2031k,a2a3=±2132k,,a2011a2012=±2201032011k,a2012a0=±2201132012k. \begin{align*} a_0 - a_1 &= \pm k, \\ a_1 - a_2 &= \pm \frac{2^0}{3^1} k, \\ a_2 - a_3 &= \pm \frac{2^1}{3^2} k, \\ \dots, \\ a_{2011} - a_{2012} &= \pm \frac{2^{2010}}{3^{2011}} k, \\ a_{2012} - a_0 &= \pm \frac{2^{2011}}{3^{2012}} k. \end{align*}
If k0k \neq 0, let us add these equations and reduce everything by kk, as a result, we will get an equation:
0=±1±2031±2132±±2201032011±2201132012. 0 = \pm 1 \pm \frac{2^0}{3^1} \pm \frac{2^1}{3^2} \pm \dots \pm \frac{2^{2010}}{3^{2011}} \pm \frac{2^{2011}}{3^{2012}}.
But irrespectively of sign before the 1 we cannot obtain 0 as a result, because module of sum of the summands left is less than 1. It is easy to prove using the formula for the sum of members of geometric progression:
±2031±2132±±2201032011±22011320122031+2132++2201032011+2201132012=13(1(23)2012)123=1(23)2012<1. \left| \pm \frac{2^0}{3^1} \pm \frac{2^1}{3^2} \pm \dots \pm \frac{2^{2010}}{3^{2011}} \pm \frac{2^{2011}}{3^{2012}} \right| \le \frac{2^0}{3^1} + \frac{2^1}{3^2} + \dots + \frac{2^{2010}}{3^{2011}} + \frac{2^{2011}}{3^{2012}} = \frac{\frac{1}{3}\left(1 - \left(\frac{2}{3}\right)^{2012}\right)}{1 - \frac{2}{3}} = 1 - \left(\frac{2}{3}\right)^{2012} < 1.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.