CombinatoricsDifficulty 6.8National olympiadProve it
Prove that En=arccot2n−1arccosnn−1 is a natural number for any natural number n. (A natural number is a positive integer)
Solution
1. Define αn=arccot(2n−1). By definition, cot(αn)=2n−1. 2. Recall the trigonometric identity for cos2(x): cos2(x)=1+tan2(x)1 3. Using the double-angle formula for cosine, we have: cos(2αn)=2cos2(αn)−1 4. Substitute cos2(αn) using the identity: cos2(αn)=1+tan2(αn)1 5. Since tan(αn)=cot(αn)1, we get: tan(αn)=2n−11 6. Substitute tan(αn) into the expression for cos2(αn): cos2(αn)=1+(2n−11)21=1+2n−111=2n−12n−1+11=2n2n−1 7. Now, substitute cos2(αn) back into the double-angle formula: cos(2αn)=2(2n2n−1)−1=2n2(2n−1)−1=2n4n−2−1=2n4n−2−2n=2n2n−2=nn−1 8. Therefore, we have: cos(2αn)=nn−1 9. This implies: 2αn=arccos(nn−1) 10. Finally, we can express En as: En=arccot(2n−1)arccos(nn−1)=αn2αn=2 11. Since 2 is a natural number, the result follows.
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