Let tn equal the integer closest to n. What is the sum t11+t21+t31+t41+⋯+t20081+t20091+t20101?
A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.
Solution
First, we try a few values of n to see if we can find a pattern in the values of tn: So tn=1 for 2 values of n,2 for 4 values of n,3 for 6 values of n,4 for 8 values of n. We conjecture that tn=k for 2k values of n. We will prove this fact at the end of the solution. Next, we note that 2010≈44.83 and so t2010=45. This means that before this point in the sequence, we have included all terms with tn≤44. According to our conjecture, the number of terms with tn≤44 should be 2+4+6+⋯+86+88=2(1+2+3+⋯+43+44)=2(21(44)(45))=44(45)=1980. Note that 1980≈44.497 and 1981≈44.508 so t1980=44 and t1981=45. Since t1981=t2010=45, then each of the terms from t1981 to t2010 equals 45. Therefore, there are 30 terms that equal 45. Thus, the required sum equals 2(11)+4(21)+6(31)+⋯+86(431)+88(441)+30(451)=2+2+2+⋯+2+2+32 where there are 44 copies of 2. Therefore, the sum equals 8832. Lastly, we prove that for each positive integer k, there are 2k terms tn that equal k: In order to have tn=k, we need k−21≤n<k+21 (in other words, n needs to round to k). Since n and k are positive, then k−21≤n is equivalent to (k−21)2≤n and n<k+21 is equivalent to n<(k+21)2. Therefore, we need (k−21)2≤n<(k+21)2 or k2−k+41≤n<k2+k+41. Since n is an integer, then k2−k+1≤n≤k2+k. There are thus (k2+k)−(k2−k+1)+1=2k such values of n, as required.
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