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Algebra Difficulty 3.2 AMC 10/12 Find the answer

Given an arithmetic sequence {an}\{a_{n}\} with a common difference of π\pi; let S={sinannN}S=\{\sin{a}_{n}|n∈{N}^{*}\}. If S={a,b}S=\{a,b\}, then a+b=(  )a+b=\left(\ \ \right)

Pick one

Solution

Given an arithmetic sequence {an}\{a_{n}\} with a common difference of π\pi, we can express the nn-th term as an=a1+(n1)πa_{n}=a_{1}+(n-1)\pi. This simplifies to an=nπ+a1πa_{n}=n\pi +a_{1}-\pi.

Since the common difference is π\pi, the sine function, which has a period of 2π2\pi, will repeat its values every 2π2\pi. However, considering the arithmetic sequence's structure, the effective period for sinan\sin{a_{n}} is T=2ππ=2T=\frac{2\pi}{\pi}=2. This means after every two terms, the sine values will repeat.

To ensure the set S={a,b}S=\{a,b\} contains exactly two distinct elements, we need the conditions:
1. sina1sina2\sin{a_{1}} \neq \sin{a_{2}} to guarantee aa and bb are different.
2. sina1=sina3\sin{a_{1}} = \sin{a_{3}} to ensure the pattern repeats every two terms, aligning with the period T=2T=2.

By choosing a1=π6{a}_{1}=\frac{\pi}{6}, we can calculate:
- For a=sina1=sin(π6)=12a=\sin{a}_{1}=\sin\left(\frac{\pi}{6}\right)=\frac{1}{2}
- For b=sina2=sin(π+π6)=sin(7π6)=12b=\sin{a}_{2}=\sin\left(\pi+\frac{\pi}{6}\right)=\sin\left(\frac{7\pi}{6}\right)=-\frac{1}{2}

Therefore, when adding these two values, we get a+b=1212=0a+b=\frac{1}{2}-\frac{1}{2}=0.

Hence, the correct answer is B\boxed{B}.

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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.