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Algebra Difficulty 6.3 National olympiad Prove it

A sequence x1,x2,x_{1}, x_{2}, \ldots is defined by x1=1x_{1}=1 and x2k=xk,x2k1=(1)k+1xkx_{2 k}=-x_{k}, x_{2 k-1}=(-1)^{k+1} x_{k} for all k1k \geq 1. Prove that x1+x2++xn0x_{1}+x_{2}+\cdots+x_{n} \geq 0 for all n1n \geq 1. (Austria)

Solution

We start with some observations. First, from the definition of xi x_i it follows that for each positive integer k k we have
x4k3=x2k1=x4k2andx4k1=x4k=x2k=xk. x_{4k-3} = x_{2k-1} = -x_{4k-2} \quad \text{and} \quad x_{4k-1} = x_{4k} = -x_{2k} = x_k.
Hence, denoting Sn=i=1nxi S_n = \sum_{i=1}^n x_i , we have
S4k=i=1k((x4k3+x4k2)+(x4k1+x4k))=i=1k(0+2xk)=2Sk,S4k+2=S4k+(x4k+1+x4k+2)=S4k. \begin{gathered} S_{4k} = \sum_{i=1}^k \left( (x_{4k-3} + x_{4k-2}) + (x_{4k-1} + x_{4k}) \right) = \sum_{i=1}^k (0 + 2x_k) = 2S_k, \\ S_{4k+2} = S_{4k} + (x_{4k+1} + x_{4k+2}) = S_{4k}. \end{gathered}
Observe also that Sn=i=1nxii=1n1=n(mod2) S_n = \sum_{i=1}^n x_i \equiv \sum_{i=1}^n 1 = n \pmod{2} . Now we prove by induction on k k that Si0 S_i \geq 0 for all i4k i \leq 4k . The base case is valid since x1=x3=x4=1 x_1 = x_3 = x_4 = 1 and x2=1 x_2 = -1 . For the induction step, assume that Si0 S_i \geq 0 for all i4k i \leq 4k . Using the relations (1)-(3), we obtain
S4k+4=2Sk+10,S4k+2=S4k0,S4k+3=S4k+2+x4k+3=S4k+2+S4k+420. S_{4k+4} = 2S_{k+1} \geq 0, \quad S_{4k+2} = S_{4k} \geq 0, \quad S_{4k+3} = S_{4k+2} + x_{4k+3} = \frac{S_{4k+2} + S_{4k+4}}{2} \geq 0.
So, we are left to prove that S4k+10 S_{4k+1} \geq 0 . If k k is odd, then S4k=2Sk0 S_{4k} = 2S_k \geq 0 ; since k k is odd, Sk S_k is odd as well, so we have S4k2 S_{4k} \geq 2 and hence S4k+1=S4k+x4k+11 S_{4k+1} = S_{4k} + x_{4k+1} \geq 1 . Conversely, if k k is even, then we have x4k+1=x2k+1=xk+1 x_{4k+1} = x_{2k+1} = x_{k+1} , hence S4k+1=S4k+x4k+1=2Sk+xk+1=Sk+Sk+10 S_{4k+1} = S_{4k} + x_{4k+1} = 2S_k + x_{k+1} = S_k + S_{k+1} \geq 0 . The step is proved.

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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.