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Algebra Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Find the answer

A sequence is defined by A0=0,A1=1,A2=2A_{0}=0, A_{1}=1, A_{2}=2, and, for integers n3n \geq 3, An=An1+An2+An33+1n4n2A_{n}=\frac{A_{n-1}+A_{n-2}+A_{n-3}}{3}+\frac{1}{n^{4}-n^{2}} Compute limNAN\lim _{N \rightarrow \infty} A_{N}.

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

Solution

If we sum the given equation for n=3,4,5,,Nn=3,4,5, \ldots, N, we obtain n=3NAn=n=3NAn1+An2+An33+1n4n2\sum_{n=3}^{N} A_{n}=\sum_{n=3}^{N} \frac{A_{n-1}+A_{n-2}+A_{n-3}}{3}+\frac{1}{n^{4}-n^{2}} This reduces dramatically to AN+2AN13+AN23=A2+2A13+A03+n=3N1n4n2\begin{equation*} A_{N}+\frac{2 A_{N-1}}{3}+\frac{A_{N-2}}{3}=A_{2}+\frac{2 A_{1}}{3}+\frac{A_{0}}{3}+\sum_{n=3}^{N} \frac{1}{n^{4}-n^{2}} \tag{*} \end{equation*} Let limNAN=L\lim _{N \rightarrow \infty} A_{N}=L. Under this limit, the left hand side of ()\left(^{*}\right) is simply 2L2 L. We compute the sum on the right with the help of partial fractions limNn=3N1n4n2=n=31n211n2=(n=312(1n11n+1))+112+122n=11n2=12(12+13)+54π26=53π26\begin{aligned} \lim _{N \rightarrow \infty} \sum_{n=3}^{N} \frac{1}{n^{4}-n^{2}} & =\sum_{n=3}^{\infty} \frac{1}{n^{2}-1}-\frac{1}{n^{2}} \\ & =\left(\sum_{n=3}^{\infty} \frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{1}{n-1}-\frac{1}{n+1}\right)\right)+\frac{1}{1^{2}}+\frac{1}{2^{2}}-\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{1}{n^{2}} \\ & =\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{1}{2}+\frac{1}{3}\right)+\frac{5}{4}-\frac{\pi^{2}}{6} \\ & =\frac{5}{3}-\frac{\pi^{2}}{6} \end{aligned} With this we easily find L=12(2+231+130+53π26)=136π212L=\frac{1}{2} \cdot\left(2+\frac{2}{3} \cdot 1+\frac{1}{3} \cdot 0+\frac{5}{3}-\frac{\pi^{2}}{6}\right)=\frac{13}{6}-\frac{\pi^{2}}{12}, and we are done.

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