Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /357 of 520

Number theory Difficulty 7.2 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it

A sequence with first two terms equal 11 and 2424 respectively is defined by the following rule: each subsequent term is equal to the smallest positive integer which has not yet occurred in the sequence and is not coprime with the previous term. Prove that all positive integers occur in this sequence.

Solution

1. Define the sequence and sets:
Let ai a_i denote the terms in the sequence, with a1=1 a_1 = 1 and a2=24 a_2 = 24 . Define the set Sn:={a1,,an} S_n := \{a_1, \ldots, a_n\} as the set of the first n n terms of the sequence, and S:=nZ+Sn S_\infty := \bigcup_{n \in \mathbb{Z^+}} S_n as the set of all terms that eventually appear in the sequence. Let U:=Z+S U := \mathbb{Z^+} \setminus S_\infty be the set of positive integers that never appear in the sequence.

2. **Assume U U \neq \emptyset :**
Suppose not all positive integers occur in the sequence, i.e., U U \neq \emptyset .

3. **Composite numbers in U U :**
- Assume uU u \in U is a composite number. By the Well-Ordering Principle (WOP), we can assume u u is the smallest composite number in U U .
- Consider the set Ψ(u)={numbers <u having a common factor with u} \Psi(u) = \{ \text{numbers } < u \text{ having a common factor with } u \} .
- Since u u is composite, it has at least one prime factor. Therefore, there exists some v=ajΨ(u) v = a_j \in \Psi(u) with j j maximal (the last number having a common factor with u u to appear in the sequence).
- By the sequence's rule, the next term aj+1 a_{j+1} should be the smallest positive integer not yet in the sequence and not coprime with aj a_j . Since v v and u u share a common factor, u u should be aj+1 a_{j+1} , implying uS u \in S_\infty , which is a contradiction. Therefore, U U cannot contain any composite number.

4. **Prime numbers in U U :**
- Let p p be the smallest prime number in U U (using WOP again). Note that p2 p \neq 2 because a3=2 a_3 = 2 .
- Since 2p 2p is a composite number, and we have already shown that U U cannot contain any composite numbers, 2pS 2p \in S_\infty . Thus, there exists some j>3 j > 3 such that 2p=aj 2p = a_j .
- By the sequence's rule, the next term aj+1 a_{j+1} should be the smallest positive integer not yet in the sequence and not coprime with aj a_j . Since 2p 2p and p p share a common factor, p p should be aj+1 a_{j+1} , implying pS p \in S_\infty , which is a contradiction. Therefore, U U cannot contain any prime number.

5. Conclusion:
- Since U U cannot contain any composite numbers or prime numbers, and 1U 1 \notin U , we conclude that U= U = \emptyset .
- Therefore, S=Z+ S_\infty = \mathbb{Z^+} , meaning all positive integers occur in the sequence.

\blacksquare

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.