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Algebra Difficulty 4.9 AIME Find the answer

Compute i=1aiai\sum_{i=1}^{\infty} \frac{a i}{a^{i}} for a>1a>1.

A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.

Solution

The sum S=a+ax+ax2+ax3+S=a+a x+a x^{2}+a x^{3}+\cdots for x<1x<1 can be determined by realizing that xS=ax+ax2+ax3+x S=a x+a x^{2}+a x^{3}+\cdots and (1x)S=a(1-x) S=a, so S=a1xS=\frac{a}{1-x}. Using this, we have i=1aiai=\sum_{i=1}^{\infty} \frac{a i}{a^{i}}= ai=1iai=a[1a+2a2+3a3+]=a[(1a+1a2+1a3+)+(1a2+1a3+1a4+)+]=a \sum_{i=1}^{\infty} \frac{i}{a^{i}}=a\left[\frac{1}{a}+\frac{2}{a^{2}}+\frac{3}{a^{3}}+\cdots\right]=a\left[\left(\frac{1}{a}+\frac{1}{a^{2}}+\frac{1}{a^{3}}+\cdots\right)+\left(\frac{1}{a^{2}}+\frac{1}{a^{3}}+\frac{1}{a^{4}}+\cdots\right)+\cdots\right]= a[11a+1a11a+1a211a+]=a1a[1+1a+1a2+]=(a1a)2a\left[\frac{1}{1-a}+\frac{1}{a} \frac{1}{1-a}+\frac{1}{a^{2}} \frac{1}{1-a}+\cdots\right]=\frac{a}{1-a}\left[1+\frac{1}{a}+\frac{1}{a^{2}}+\cdots\right]=\left(\frac{a}{1-a}\right)^{2}.

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