Solution:
a) Suppose that the inequality {anan−1…a1x}>an+11 holds for finitely many values of n. Hence there exists s such that for any n≥s we have {anan−1…a1x}≤an+11. Since {anan−1…a1x} is not a rational number (in particular does not equal 0) we obtain that {anan−1…a1x}<an+11, i.e. an+1{anan−1…a1x}<1. Using that an+1 is an integer we have
{an+1anan−1…a1x}={an+1{anan−1…a1x}}=an+1{anan−1…a1x}
For any t>s we obtain
1>{atat−1…asas−1…a1x}=atat−1…as{as−1…a1x}
a contradiction, since limt→∞atat−1…as=∞, but 0<{as−1…a1x}<1.
b) It is clear that if ai=1 for some i>1 then {ai−1ai−2…a1x}>ai1=1 is not true. Suppose that there exists t such that ai=2 for i>t. Then {2py}>21 for y=atat−1…a1x and every p. Since y<1 and ∑j=1∞2j1=1 we conclude that for every k the inequality ck≤y<ck+1 holds true, where ck=21+221+⋯+2k1. Therefore 2ky∈[2kck,2kck+21), a contradiction to {2ky}>21.
We shall prove that if {an}n=1∞ is a sequence for which ai>1 for all i>1 and the inequality ai>2 holds true for infinitely many values of i, then there exist infinitely many x∈(0,1) such that xn>an+11. Set
x=a1b1+a1a2b2+a1a2a3b3+⋯
where b1≤a1−1 and 1≤bi≤ai−1 for i>1 and infinitely many of the latter inequalities are strict. Then
x=a1b1+a1a2b2+a1a2a3b3+⋯<a1a1−1+a1a2a2−1+a1a2a3a3−1+⋯=1−a11+a11−a1a21+a1a21−⋯=1
The numbers of this type are infinitely many and we have as above that
an+1bn+1+an+1an+2bn+2+⋯<1
Therefore
xn=an+1bn+1+an+1an+2bn+2+⋯>an+1bn+1≥an+11