Problem:
Find all the ways which one can assign an integer to each vertex of a -gon subject to the following condition: among any three consecutive numbers written down, one of the numbers is the sum of the other two.
Solution
Solution:
The answer is that all the numbers must be zero. (Clearly, this works.)
We now prove this is the only solution. Call the numbers . Then the sum must be even, since it is either , , or . Similarly, must be even.
In this way, and have the same parity. By the same reasoning, and have the same parity, and so on—the numbers and have the same parity. Since doesn't divide , that means all the numbers have the same parity. Clearly then all the numbers are even (rather than all odd).
We may now employ infinite descent: if is a working assignment, then so is , and then so is . Such a process cannot go on indefinitely unless for all , completing the proof.
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