21 numbers are written in a row. If u, v, w are three consecutive ones then v=u+w2uw. The first number is 1001, the last one is 1011. Find the 15th number.
Solution
Write v=u+w2uw as v1=2uwu+w. This gives v1=21(u1+w1), or v1−u1=w1−v1. So look at the sequence of reciprocals of the given numbers: v1−u1=w1−v1 means that consecutive reciprocals differ by the same amount which we denote by d.
Hence the last reciprocal 1/1011=101 can be obtained from the first one 1/1001=100 by adding d 20 times. Thus 101=100+20d, yielding d=201. To obtain the 15th reciprocal we add 14d to the first one, 100, which gives 100+14⋅201=101007. Therefore the 15th original number is 100710.
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Source: MathNet,
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