Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /446 of 520

Algebra Difficulty 4.5 AIME Prove it

Given the sequence {a_n}\{a\_n\} that satisfies: a_1a_2a_n=1a_na\_1a\_2…a\_n=1-a\_n, nNn∈N^{*}.
(1) Prove that {11a_n}\{ \frac {1}{1-a\_n} \} is an arithmetic sequence, and find the general term formula for the sequence {a_n}\{a\_n\};
(2) Let T_n={1(n=1)a_1a_2a_n1(nslant2)(nN)T\_n= \begin{cases} 1(n=1) \\ a\_1a\_2…a\_{n-1}(n≥slant 2) \end{cases}(n∈N^{*}), S_n=T_1+T_2++T_nS\_n=T\_1+T\_2+…+T\_n, prove that: 12slantS_2nS_n<34\frac {1}{2}≤slant S\_{2n}-S\_n < \frac {3}{4}.

Solution

(1) Since the sequence {a_n}\{a\_n\} satisfies: a_1a_2a_n=1a_na\_1a\_2…a\_n=1-a\_n, nNn∈N^{*}.
When n=1n=1, a_1=1a_1a\_1=1-a\_1, solving for a_1a\_1 gives a_1=12a\_1= \frac {1}{2}.
When nslant2n≥slant 2, a_1a_2a_n1=1a_n1a\_1a\_2…a\_{n-1}=1-a\_{n-1}, thus a_n=1a_n1a_n1a\_n= \frac {1-a\_n}{1-a\_{n-1}},
which can be rewritten as: 11a_n11a_n1=1\frac {1}{1-a\_n} - \frac {1}{1-a\_{n-1}} = 1,
Hence, {11a_n}\{ \frac {1}{1-a\_n} \} is an arithmetic sequence with the first term 22 and common difference 11.
Therefore, 11a_n=2+(n1)=n+1\frac {1}{1-a\_n} = 2+(n-1)=n+1.
Solving for a_na\_n gives a_n=nn+1a\_n = \boxed{\frac {n}{n+1}}.

(2) Given T_n={1(n=1)a_1a_2a_n1(nslant2)(nN)T\_n= \begin{cases} 1(n=1) \\ a\_1a\_2…a\_{n-1}(n≥slant 2) \end{cases}(n∈N^{*}),
When n=1n=1, T_1=1T\_1=1.
When nslant2n≥slant 2, T_n=a_1a_2a_n1=1a_n1=1n1n=1nT\_n=a\_1a\_2…a\_{n-1}=1-a\_{n-1}=1- \frac {n-1}{n}= \frac {1}{n},
Thus, S_n=T_1+T_2++T_n=1+12+13++1nS\_n=T\_1+T\_2+…+T\_n=1+ \frac {1}{2}+ \frac {1}{3}+…+ \frac {1}{n}.
Hence, S_2nS_n=1n+1+1n+2++1n+nslantnn+n=12S\_{2n}-S\_n= \frac {1}{n+1}+ \frac {1}{n+2}+…+ \frac {1}{n+n}≥slant \frac {n}{n+n}= \frac {1}{2}.
The left side of the inequality 12slantS_2nS_n\boxed{\frac {1}{2}≤slant S\_{2n}-S\_n} holds.
Since S_2nS_n=12[(1n+1+1n+n)+(1n+2+1n+n1)++(1n+n+1n+1)]S\_{2n}-S\_n= \frac {1}{2}[( \frac {1}{n+1}+ \frac {1}{n+n})+( \frac {1}{n+2}+ \frac {1}{n+n-1})+…+( \frac {1}{n+n}+ \frac {1}{n+1})]
<12(32n+32n++32n)=3n4n=34< \frac {1}{2}( \frac {3}{2n}+ \frac {3}{2n}+…+ \frac {3}{2n})= \frac {3n}{4n}= \frac {3}{4}.
The right side of the inequality S_2nS_n<34\boxed{S\_{2n}-S\_n < \frac {3}{4}} holds.

In conclusion, 12slantS_2nS_n<34\boxed{\frac {1}{2}≤slant S\_{2n}-S\_n < \frac {3}{4}}.

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.