Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Prove it Bulgaria

Let x0,x1,x_0, x_1, \dots be a sequence of real numbers such that x0=1x_0 = 1 and xn+1=sin(xn)+π21x_{n+1} = \sin(x_n) + \frac{\pi}{2} - 1 for all n0n \ge 0. Show that the sequence converges and find its limit.
(Kristyan Vasilev)

Solution

We will first prove that the sequence is strictly increasing. Note that for each nn we have xnπ2x_n \le \frac{\pi}{2}, since sinx1\sin x \le 1 for each xRx \in \mathbb{R}. Besides we have that the function f(x)=sinxxf(x) = \sin x - x is decreasing for xRx \in \mathbb{R}, because f(x)=cosx10f'(x) = \cos x - 1 \le 0 for each xRx \in \mathbb{R}.

Therefore, for x(,π2)x \in (-\infty, \frac{\pi}{2}) we have f(x)sinπ2π2f(x) \ge \sin \frac{\pi}{2} - \frac{\pi}{2}. So we get that sinxnxn+1π2\sin x_n \ge x_n + 1 - \frac{\pi}{2}, which is equivalent to xn+1xnx_{n+1} \ge x_n. Therefore, the series (xn)n=1(x_n)_{n=1}^\infty is increasing and since it is bounded it follows that it is convergent. If ll is its limit, then for ll it is true that l=sinl+π21l = \sin l + \frac{\pi}{2} - 1, i.e. f(l)=f(π2)f(l) = f(\frac{\pi}{2}). The function ff is decreasing, which means that l=π2l = \frac{\pi}{2}.

π2\boxed{\frac{\pi}{2}}

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