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HMMT November

Algebra Difficulty 4.9 AIME Find the answer

Let the sequence {ai}i=0∞\left\{a_{i}\right\}_{i=0}^{\infty} be defined by a0=12a_{0}=\frac{1}{2} and an=1+(an−1−1)2a_{n}=1+\left(a_{n-1}-1\right)^{2}. Find the product ∏i=0∞ai=a0a1a2\prod_{i=0}^{\infty} a_{i}=a_{0} a_{1} a_{2}

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

Solution

Let {bi}i=0∞\left\{b_{i}\right\}_{i=0}^{\infty} be defined by bn=an−1b_{n}=a_{n}-1 and note that bn=bn−12b_{n}=b_{n-1}^{2}. The infinite product is then (1+b0)(1+b02)(1+b04)…(1+b02k)…\left(1+b_{0}\right)\left(1+b_{0}^{2}\right)\left(1+b_{0}^{4}\right) \ldots\left(1+b_{0}^{2^{k}}\right) \ldots By the polynomial identity (1+x)(1+x2)(1+x4)…(1+x2k)⋯=1+x+x2+x3+⋯=11−x(1+x)\left(1+x^{2}\right)\left(1+x^{4}\right) \ldots\left(1+x^{2^{k}}\right) \cdots=1+x+x^{2}+x^{3}+\cdots=\frac{1}{1-x} Our desired product is then simply 11−(a0−1)=23\frac{1}{1-\left(a_{0}-1\right)}=\frac{2}{3}

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