Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 5.0 AIME, harder Find the answer

Let a1,a2,a3,a_{1}, a_{2}, a_{3}, \ldots be a sequence of positive integers where a1=i=0100ia_{1}=\sum_{i=0}^{100} i! and ai+ai+1a_{i}+a_{i+1} is an odd perfect square for all i1i \geq 1. Compute the smallest possible value of a1000a_{1000}.

A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.

Solution

Note that a11+1+2+62(mod8)a_{1} \equiv 1+1+2+6 \equiv 2(\bmod 8). Since a1+a2a_{1}+a_{2} must be an odd perfect square, we must have a1+a21(mod8)a27(mod8)a_{1}+a_{2} \equiv 1(\bmod 8) \Longrightarrow a_{2} \equiv 7(\bmod 8). Similarly, since a2+a3a_{2}+a_{3} is an odd perfect square, we must have a32(mod8)a_{3} \equiv 2(\bmod 8). We can continue this to get a2k12(mod8)a_{2k-1} \equiv 2(\bmod 8) and a2k7a_{2k} \equiv 7 (mod8)(\bmod 8), so in particular, we have a10007(mod8)a_{1000} \equiv 7(\bmod 8), so a10007a_{1000} \geq 7. Now, note that we can find some large enough odd perfect square t2t^{2} such that t2a123t^{2}-a_{1} \geq 23. Let a2=t2a1a_{2}=t^{2}-a_{1}. Since a27(mod8)a_{2} \equiv 7(\bmod 8), we can let a27=8ka_{2}-7=8k for some integer k2k \geq 2. Now, since we have (2k+1)2(2k1)2=8k(2k+1)^{2}-(2k-1)^{2}=8k, if we let a3=(2k1)27a_{3}=(2k-1)^{2}-7, then a2+a3=a2+((2k1)27)=(2k1)2+(a27)=(2k1)2+8k=(2k+1)2a_{2}+a_{3}=a_{2}+\left((2k-1)^{2}-7\right)=(2k-1)^{2}+\left(a_{2}-7\right)=(2k-1)^{2}+8k=(2k+1)^{2} which is an odd perfect square. Now, we can let a4=7a_{4}=7 and we will get a3+a4=(2k1)2a_{3}+a_{4}=(2k-1)^{2}. From here, we can let 2=a5=a7=a9=2=a_{5}=a_{7}=a_{9}=\cdots and 7=a4=a6=a8=7=a_{4}=a_{6}=a_{8}=\cdots, which tells us that the least possible value for a1000a_{1000} is 7.

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Source: Omni-MATH, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.