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Algebra Difficulty 5.2 AIME, harder Find the answer

Let a1,a2,a3,a_{1}, a_{2}, a_{3}, \ldots be a sequence of positive real numbers that satisfies n=k(nk)an=15k\sum_{n=k}^{\infty}\binom{n}{k} a_{n}=\frac{1}{5^{k}} for all positive integers kk. The value of a1a2+a3a4+a_{1}-a_{2}+a_{3}-a_{4}+\cdots can be expressed as ab\frac{a}{b}, where a,ba, b are relatively prime positive integers. Compute 100a+b100a+b.

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

Solution

Let Sk=15kS_{k}=\frac{1}{5^{k}}. In order to get the coefficient of a2a_{2} to be -1, we need to have S13S3S_{1}-3S_{3}. This subtraction makes the coefficient of a3a_{3} become -6. Therefore, we need to add 7S37S_{3} to make the coefficient of a4a_{4} equal to 1. The coefficient of a4a_{4} in S13S3+7S5S_{1}-3S_{3}+7S_{5} is 14, so we must subtract 15S415S_{4}. We can continue to pattern to get that we want to compute S13S2+7S315S4+31S5S_{1}-3S_{2}+7S_{3}-15S_{4}+31S_{5}-\cdots. To prove that this alternating sum equals a1a2+a3a4+a_{1}-a_{2}+a_{3}-a_{4}+\cdots, it suffices to show i=1n((2)i+(1)i)(ni)=(1)i+1\sum_{i=1}^{n}\left(-(-2)^{i}+(-1)^{i}\right)\binom{n}{i}=(-1)^{i+1} To see this is true, note that the left hand side equals (12)i+(11)i=(1)i+1-(1-2)^{i}+(1-1)^{i}=(-1)^{i+1} by binomial expansion. (We may rearrange the sums since the positivity of the aia_{i} 's guarantee absolute convergence.) Now, all that is left to do is to compute i=1(2i1)(1)i15i=i=1(1)i5ii=1(2)i5i=1511525125=542\sum_{i=1}^{\infty} \frac{\left(2^{i}-1\right)(-1)^{i-1}}{5^{i}}=\sum_{i=1}^{\infty} \frac{(-1)^{i}}{5^{i}}-\sum_{i=1}^{\infty} \frac{(-2)^{i}}{5^{i}}=\frac{\frac{-1}{5}}{1-\frac{-1}{5}}-\frac{\frac{-2}{5}}{1-\frac{-2}{5}}=\frac{5}{42}

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