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Algebra Difficulty 6.3 National Olympiad Prove it Bulgaria

Problem:

Let a1,a2,a_{1}, a_{2}, \ldots be a sequence of real numbers less than 11 and such that an+1(an+2)=3a_{n+1}(a_{n}+2)=3, n1n \geq 1. Prove that:

a) 72<an<2-\frac{7}{2}<a_{n}<-2

б) an=3a_{n}=-3 for any nn.

Solution

Solution:

a) It follows from an<1a_{n}<1 and an+1=3an+2<1a_{n+1}=\frac{3}{a_{n}+2}<1 that an<2a_{n}<-2. Thus, an+1<2a_{n+1}<-2, and therefore an+2=3an+1>32a_{n}+2=\frac{3}{a_{n+1}}> -\frac{3}{2}, i.e. an>72a_{n}>-\frac{7}{2}.

б) First solution. Set bn=an+3b_{n}=a_{n}+3. Then bn+1=3bnbn1b_{n+1}=\frac{3 b_{n}}{b_{n}-1}. It follows from a) that 32<bn1<0-\frac{3}{2}<b_{n}-1<0, i.e. bn1<32|b_{n}-1|<\frac{3}{2} and therefore bn+1>2bn|b_{n+1}|>2|b_{n}|. Hence 1>bn+1>2nb11>|b_{n+1}|>2^{n}|b_{1}| for all nn. Letting nn \rightarrow \infty gives b1=0b_{1}=0. Then bn=0b_{n}=0, i.e. an=3a_{n}=-3 for all nn.

Second solution. Let c1=1c_{1}=1 and ck+1=3ck+(1)kc_{k+1}=3 c_{k}+(-1)^{k} for k1k \geq 1. One can prove by induction on kk that
c2k+1c2k<an<c2kc2k1 -\frac{c_{2 k+1}}{c_{2 k}}<a_{n}< -\frac{c_{2 k}}{c_{2 k-1}}
for all nn and kk. Indeed, similar to a) it follows from an<c2kc2k1a_{n}< -\frac{c_{2 k}}{c_{2 k-1}} that c2k+1c2k<an-\frac{c_{2 k+1}}{c_{2 k}}< a_{n}, which in turn implies that an<c2k+2c2k+1a_{n}< -\frac{c_{2 k+2}}{c_{2 k+1}}.
Further, induction on kk gives ck=3k+(1)k14c_{k}=\frac{3^{k}+(-1)^{k-1}}{4}. Therefore limkck+1ck=3\lim_{k \rightarrow \infty} \frac{c_{k+1}}{c_{k}}=3 and using (*) we conclude that an=3a_{n}=-3 for all nn.

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