Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 6.0 AIME, harder Prove it

2. Given a0=1,a1=2,an+1=an+an11+(an1)2,n1a_{0}=1, a_{1}=2, a_{n+1}=a_{n}+\frac{a_{n-1}}{1+\left(a_{n-1}\right)^{2}}, n \geqslant 1, prove: 52<a1371<6552<a_{1371}<65.

Solution

2. We prove the general case
2n+1an3n+2 (for all n0 ) \sqrt{2 n+1} \leqslant a_{n} \leqslant \sqrt{3 n+2} \text { (for all } n \geqslant 0 \text { ) }

Taking n=1371,2n+1=274352.37,3n+2=411564.148n=1371, \sqrt{2 n+1}=\sqrt{2743} \approx 52.37, \sqrt{3 n+2}=\sqrt{4115} \approx 64.148, then we have 520520. From equation (2), we know the sequence {an}\left\{a_{n}\right\} is strictly monotonically increasing, and 1(an1)21\frac{1}{\left(a_{n-1}\right)^{2}} \leqslant 1 (for all n1n \geqslant 1). Also, since an2=an12+1an12+2a_{n}^{2}=a_{n-1}^{2}+\frac{1}{a_{n-1}^{2}}+2, we get
a_{n-1}^{2}+2\sqrt{a_{n}^{2}+2} \geqslant \sqrt{2 n+1+2}=\sqrt{2(n+1)+2} \end{array}

Thus, the conclusion holds for n+1n+1. By induction, equation (1) is true.

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Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.