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Algebra Difficulty 4.5 AIME Find the answer

Evaluate the expression where the digit 2 appears 2013 times.

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

Solution

Let f(n)f(n) denote the corresponding expression with the digit 2 appearing exactly nn times. Then f(1)=12f(1)=\frac{1}{2} and for n>1,f(n)=12f(n1)n>1, f(n)=\frac{1}{2-f(n-1)}. By induction using the identity 12N1N=NN+1\frac{1}{2-\frac{N-1}{N}}=\frac{N}{N+1}, f(n)=nn+1f(n)=\frac{n}{n+1} for all n1n \geq 1, so f(2013)=20132014f(2013)=\frac{2013}{2014}.

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