Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /401 of 860

Algebra Difficulty 5.1 AIME, harder Find the answer

An infinite sequence of real numbers a1,a2,a_{1}, a_{2}, \ldots satisfies the recurrence an+3=an+22an+1+ana_{n+3}=a_{n+2}-2 a_{n+1}+a_{n} for every positive integer nn. Given that a1=a3=1a_{1}=a_{3}=1 and a98=a99a_{98}=a_{99}, compute a1+a2++a100a_{1}+a_{2}+\cdots+a_{100}.

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

Solution

A quick telescope gives that a1++an=2a1+a3+an1an2a_{1}+\cdots+a_{n}=2 a_{1}+a_{3}+a_{n-1}-a_{n-2} for all n3n \geq 3: k=1nak=a1+a2+a3+k=1n3(ak2ak+1+2ak+2)=a1+a2+a3+k=1n3ak2k=2n2ak+k=3n1ak=2a1+a3an2+an1\begin{aligned} \sum_{k=1}^{n} a_{k} & =a_{1}+a_{2}+a_{3}+\sum_{k=1}^{n-3}\left(a_{k}-2 a_{k+1}+2 a_{k+2}\right) \\ & =a_{1}+a_{2}+a_{3}+\sum_{k=1}^{n-3} a_{k}-2 \sum_{k=2}^{n-2} a_{k}+\sum_{k=3}^{n-1} a_{k} \\ & =2 a_{1}+a_{3}-a_{n-2}+a_{n-1} \end{aligned} Putting n=100n=100 gives the answer. One actual value of a2a_{2} which yields the sequence is a2=742745601954597303450449a_{2}=\frac{742745601954}{597303450449}.

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.