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Algebra Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Find the answer

Let a1=3a_{1}=3, and for n>1n>1, let ana_{n} be the largest real number such that 4(an12+an2)=10an1an94\left(a_{n-1}^{2}+a_{n}^{2}\right)=10 a_{n-1} a_{n}-9 What is the largest positive integer less than a8a_{8} ?

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

Solution

Let tnt_{n} be the larger real such that an=tn+1tna_{n}=t_{n}+\frac{1}{t_{n}}. Then t1=3+52t_{1}=\frac{3+\sqrt{5}}{2}. We claim that tn=2tn1t_{n}=2 t_{n-1}. Writing the recurrence as a quadratic polynomial in ana_{n}, we have: 4an210an1an+4an12+9=04 a_{n}^{2}-10 a_{n-1} a_{n}+4 a_{n-1}^{2}+9=0 Using the quadratic formula, we see that an=54an1+34an124a_{n}=\frac{5}{4} a_{n-1}+\frac{3}{4} \sqrt{a_{n-1}^{2}-4}. (We ignore the negative square root, since ana_{n} is the largest real number satisfying the polynomial.) Substituting tn1+1tn1t_{n-1}+\frac{1}{t_{n-1}} for an1a_{n-1}, we see that an124=tn122+1tn12\sqrt{a_{n-1}^{2}-4}=\sqrt{t_{n-1}^{2}-2+\frac{1}{t_{n-1}^{2}}}, so we have: an=54(tn1+1tn1)+34(tn11tn1)2=2tn1+12tn1a_{n}=\frac{5}{4}\left(t_{n-1}+\frac{1}{t_{n-1}}\right)+\frac{3}{4} \sqrt{\left(t_{n-1}-\frac{1}{t_{n-1}}\right)^{2}}=2 t_{n-1}+\frac{1}{2 t_{n-1}} so tn=2tn1t_{n}=2 t_{n-1}, as claimed. Then a8=128(3+5)2+2128(3+5)a_{8}=\frac{128(3+\sqrt{5})}{2}+\frac{2}{128(3+\sqrt{5})}. The second term is vanishingly small, so a8=64(3+5)\left\lfloor a_{8}\right\rfloor=\lfloor 64(3+\sqrt{5})\rfloor. We approximate 5\sqrt{5} to two decimal places as 2.24, making this expression 335.36=335\lfloor 335.36\rfloor=335. Since our value of 5\sqrt{5} is correct to within 0.005, the decimal is correct to within 0.32, which means the final answer is exact.

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