Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /485 of 520

Algebra Difficulty 4.6 AIME Prove it

Given a sequence {an}\{a_n\}, the sum of its first nn terms SnS_n satisfies Sn+1=Sn+n+13nanS_{n+1}=S_{n}+ \frac {n+1}{3n}\cdot a_{n} (nNn\in\mathbb{N}^*), and a1=1a_{1}=1.
(I) Prove that the sequence {ann}\left\{ \frac {a_{n}}{n}\right\} is a geometric sequence;
(II) Find the sum of the first nn terms of the sequence {an}\{a_{n}\}, SnS_{n}.

Solution

Solution:
(I) Proof: According to the problem, we have Sn+1Sn=n+13nanS_{n+1}-S_{n}= \frac {n+1}{3n}\cdot a_{n},
an+1=n+13nan\therefore a_{n+1}= \frac {n+1}{3n}\cdot a_{n},
an+1n+1=13ann\therefore \frac {a_{n+1}}{n+1}= \frac {1}{3}\cdot \frac {a_{n}}{n},
Since a1=1a_{1}=1,
\therefore the sequence {ann}\left\{ \frac {a_{n}}{n}\right\} is a geometric sequence with the first term 11 and common ratio 13\frac {1}{3},
(II) From (I), we have ann=(13)n1\frac {a_{n}}{n}=\left( \frac {1}{3}\right)^{n-1},
an=n(13)n1\therefore a_{n}=n\cdot\left( \frac {1}{3}\right)^{n-1},
Sn=1×(13)0+2×(13)1+3×(13)2++n(13)n1\therefore S_{n}=1\times\left( \frac {1}{3}\right)^{0}+2\times\left( \frac {1}{3}\right)^{1}+3\times\left( \frac {1}{3}\right)^{2}+\ldots+n\cdot\left( \frac {1}{3}\right)^{n-1},
13Sn=1×(13)1+2×(13)2+3×(13)3++n(13)n\therefore \frac {1}{3}S_{n}=1\times\left( \frac {1}{3}\right)^{1}+2\times\left( \frac {1}{3}\right)^{2}+3\times\left( \frac {1}{3}\right)^{3}+\ldots+n\cdot\left( \frac {1}{3}\right)^{n},
23Sn=1+(13)1+(13)2+(13)3++(13)n1n(13)n=113n113n(13)n=32(32+n)(13)n\therefore \frac {2}{3}S_{n}=1+\left( \frac {1}{3}\right)^{1}+\left( \frac {1}{3}\right)^{2}+\left( \frac {1}{3}\right)^{3}+\ldots+\left( \frac {1}{3}\right)^{n-1}-n\cdot\left( \frac {1}{3}\right)^{n}= \frac {1- \frac {1}{3^{n}}}{1- \frac {1}{3}}-n\cdot\left( \frac {1}{3}\right)^{n}= \frac {3}{2}-\left( \frac {3}{2}+n\right)\cdot\left( \frac {1}{3}\right)^{n},
Sn=94(94+3n2)(13)n\therefore S_{n}= \frac {9}{4}-\left( \frac {9}{4}+ \frac {3n}{2}\right)\cdot\left( \frac {1}{3}\right)^{n}

Thus, the sum of the first nn terms of the sequence {an}\{a_{n}\}, SnS_{n}, is 94(94+3n2)(13)n\boxed{\frac {9}{4}-\left( \frac {9}{4}+ \frac {3n}{2}\right)\cdot\left( \frac {1}{3}\right)^{n}}.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

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