Problem:
The sequence of complex numbers satisfies the following properties:
- and are not real.
- for all integers .
- is real for all integers .
- .
Find the product of all possible values of .
, 2013
Solution
Solution:
All complex numbers can be expressed as . Let be .
is real for all , so for all , where is an integer. , so we may write with an integer.
, so . , , and .
Therefore, the possible values of are the nonreal roots of the equation , and the product of the eight possible values is . For these values of , it is not difficult to construct a sequence which works, by choosing nonreal so that .
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