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Algebra Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Find the answer

A sequence {an}n0\left\{a_{n}\right\}_{n \geq 0} of real numbers satisfies the recursion an+1=an33an2+3a_{n+1}=a_{n}^{3}-3 a_{n}^{2}+3 for all positive integers nn. For how many values of a0a_{0} does a2007=a0a_{2007}=a_{0} ?

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

Solution

If xx appears in the sequence, the next term x33x2+3x^{3}-3 x^{2}+3 is the same if and only if 0=x33x2x+3=(x3)(x1)(x+1)0=x^{3}-3 x^{2}-x+3=(x-3)(x-1)(x+1). Moreover, that next term is strictly larger if x>3x>3 and strictly smaller if x<1x<-1. It follows that no values of a0a_{0} with a01>2\left|a_{0}-1\right|>2 yield a0=a2007a_{0}=a_{2007}. Now suppose a0=a2007a_{0}=a_{2007} and write a0=1+eαi+eαia_{0}=1+e^{\alpha i}+e^{-\alpha i}; the values a0a_{0} we seek will be in bijective correspondence with solutions α\alpha where 0απ0 \leq \alpha \leq \pi. Then a1=(a01)33a0+4=e3αi+3eαi+3eαi+e3αi3eαi3eαi3+4=e3αi+e3αi+1a_{1}=\left(a_{0}-1\right)^{3}-3 a_{0}+4=e^{3 \alpha i}+3 e^{\alpha i}+3 e^{-\alpha i}+e^{-3 \alpha i}-3 e^{\alpha i}-3 e^{-\alpha i}-3+4=e^{3 \alpha i}+e^{-3 \alpha i}+1 and an easy inductive argument gives a2007=e32007αi+e32007αi+1a_{2007}=e^{3^{2007} \alpha i}+e^{-3^{2007} \alpha i}+1. It follows that a0=a2007a_{0}=a_{2007} is equivalent to cos(α)=cos(32007α)\cos (\alpha)=\cos \left(3^{2007} \alpha\right). Now, cos(32007α)cos(α)=2sin((32007+12)α)sin((3200712)α)\cos \left(3^{2007} \alpha\right)-\cos (\alpha)=2 \sin \left(\left(\frac{3^{2007}+1}{2}\right) \alpha\right) \sin \left(\left(\frac{3^{2007}-1}{2}\right) \alpha\right) so since sin(kx)=0\sin (k x)=0 for a positive integer kk if and only if xx is a multiple of πk\frac{\pi}{k}, the solutions α\alpha are {0,2π320071,4π320071,,π}{0,2π32007+1,,π}\left\{0, \frac{2 \pi}{3^{2007}-1}, \frac{4 \pi}{3^{2007}-1}, \ldots, \pi\right\} \cup\left\{0, \frac{2 \pi}{3^{2007}+1}, \ldots, \pi\right\}. Because our values kk are consecutive, these sets overlap only at 0 and π\pi, so there are 320073^{2007} distinct α\alpha.

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