Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /814 of 860

Algebra Difficulty 5.6 AIME, harder Find the answer

The sequences of real numbers {ai}i=1\left\{a_{i}\right\}_{i=1}^{\infty} and {bi}i=1\left\{b_{i}\right\}_{i=1}^{\infty} satisfy an+1=(an11)(bn+1)a_{n+1}=\left(a_{n-1}-1\right)\left(b_{n}+1\right) and bn+1=anbn11b_{n+1}=a_{n} b_{n-1}-1 for n2n \geq 2, with a1=a2=2015a_{1}=a_{2}=2015 and b1=b2=2013b_{1}=b_{2}=2013. Evaluate, with proof, the infinite sum n=1bn(1an+11an+3)\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} b_{n}\left(\frac{1}{a_{n+1}}-\frac{1}{a_{n+3}}\right).

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

Solution

First note that ana_{n} and bnb_{n} are weakly increasing and tend to infinity. In particular, an,bn{0,1,1}a_{n}, b_{n} \notin\{0,-1,1\} for all nn. For n1n \geq 1, we have an+3=(an+11)(bn+2+1)=(an+11)(an+1bn)a_{n+3}=\left(a_{n+1}-1\right)\left(b_{n+2}+1\right)=\left(a_{n+1}-1\right)\left(a_{n+1} b_{n}\right), so bnan+3=1an+1(an+11)=1an+111an+1\frac{b_{n}}{a_{n+3}}=\frac{1}{a_{n+1}\left(a_{n+1}-1\right)}=\frac{1}{a_{n+1}-1}-\frac{1}{a_{n+1}}. Therefore, n=1bnan+1bnan+3=n=1bnan+1(1an+111an+1)=n=1bn+1an+11an+11\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{b_{n}}{a_{n+1}}-\frac{b_{n}}{a_{n+3}} =\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{b_{n}}{a_{n+1}}-\left(\frac{1}{a_{n+1}-1}-\frac{1}{a_{n+1}}\right) =\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{b_{n}+1}{a_{n+1}}-\frac{1}{a_{n+1}-1}. Furthermore, bn+1=an+1an11b_{n}+1=\frac{a_{n+1}}{a_{n-1}-1} for n2n \geq 2. So the sum over n2n \geq 2 is n=2(1an111an+11)=limNn=2N(1an111an+11)=1a11+1a21limN(1aN1+1aN+11)=1a11+1a21\sum_{n=2}^{\infty}\left(\frac{1}{a_{n-1}-1}-\frac{1}{a_{n+1}-1}\right) =\lim _{N \rightarrow \infty} \sum_{n=2}^{N}\left(\frac{1}{a_{n-1}-1}-\frac{1}{a_{n+1}-1}\right) =\frac{1}{a_{1}-1}+\frac{1}{a_{2}-1}-\lim _{N \rightarrow \infty}\left(\frac{1}{a_{N}-1}+\frac{1}{a_{N+1}-1}\right) =\frac{1}{a_{1}-1}+\frac{1}{a_{2}-1}. Hence the final answer is (b1+1a21a21)+(1a11+1a21)\left(\frac{b_{1}+1}{a_{2}}-\frac{1}{a_{2}-1}\right)+\left(\frac{1}{a_{1}-1}+\frac{1}{a_{2}-1}\right). Cancelling the common terms and putting in our starting values, this equals 20142015+12014=112015+12014=1+120142015\frac{2014}{2015}+\frac{1}{2014}=1-\frac{1}{2015}+\frac{1}{2014}=1+\frac{1}{2014 \cdot 2015}

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