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Algebra Difficulty 5.2 AIME, harder Find the answer

Let \{a_{n}\}_{n \geq 1}beanarithmeticsequenceand{gn}n1 be an arithmetic sequence and \{g_{n}\}_{n \geq 1} be a geometric sequence such that the first four terms of \{a_{n}+g_{n}\}are are 0,0,1,and0,inthatorder.Whatisthe10thtermof{an+gn}, and 0 , in that order. What is the 10th term of \{a_{n}+g_{n}\} ?

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

Solution

Let the terms of the geometric sequence be a,ra,r2a,r3aa, r a, r^{2} a, r^{3} a. Then, the terms of the arithmetic sequence are a,ra,r2a+1,r3a-a,-r a,-r^{2} a+1,-r^{3} a. However, if the first two terms of this sequence are a,ra-a,-r a, the next two terms must also be (2r+1)a,(3r+2)a(-2 r+1) a,(-3 r+2) a. It is clear that a0a \neq 0 because a3+g30a_{3}+g_{3} \neq 0, so r3=3r+2r=1-r^{3}=-3 r+2 \Rightarrow r=1 or -2 . However, we see from the arithmetic sequence that r=1r=1 is impossible, so r=2r=-2. Finally, by considering a3a_{3}, we see that 4a+1=5a-4 a+1=5 a, so a=1/9a=1 / 9. We also see that an=(3n4)aa_{n}=(3 n-4) a and gn=(2)n1ag_{n}=(-2)^{n-1} a, so our answer is a10+g10=(26512)a=486a=54a_{10}+g_{10}=(26-512) a=-486 a=-54.

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