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Algebra Difficulty 5.6 AIME, harder Find the answer

What is the largest real number θ\theta less than π\pi (i.e. θ<π\theta<\pi ) such that k=010cos(2kθ)0\prod_{k=0}^{10} \cos \left(2^{k} \theta\right) \neq 0 and $\prod_{k=0}^{10}\left(1+\frac{1}{\cos \left(2^{k} \theta\right)}\right)=1 ?

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

Solution

For equality to hold, note that θ\theta cannot be an integer multiple of π\pi (or else sin=0\sin =0 and cos=±1\cos = \pm 1 ). Let z=eiθ/2±1z=e^{i \theta / 2} \neq \pm 1. Then in terms of complex numbers, we want k=010(1+2z2k+1+z2k+1)=k=010(z2k+z2k)2z2k+1+z2k+1\prod_{k=0}^{10}\left(1+\frac{2}{z^{2^{k+1}}+z^{-2^{k+1}}}\right)=\prod_{k=0}^{10} \frac{\left(z^{2^{k}}+z^{-2^{k}}\right)^{2}}{z^{2^{k+1}}+z^{-2^{k+1}}} which partially telescopes to z+z1z211+z211k=010(z2k+z2k)\frac{z+z^{-1}}{z^{2^{11}}+z^{-2^{11}}} \prod_{k=0}^{10}\left(z^{2^{k}}+z^{-2^{k}}\right). Using a classical telescoping argument (or looking at binary representation; if you wish we may note that zz10z-z^{-1} \neq 0, so the ultimate telescoping identity holds), this simplifies to tan(210θ)tan(θ/2)\frac{\tan \left(2^{10} \theta\right)}{\tan (\theta / 2)}. Since tanx\tan x is injective modulo π\pi (i.e. π\pi-periodic and injective on any given period), θ\theta works if and only if θ2+π=1024θ\frac{\theta}{2}+\ell \pi=1024 \theta for some integer \ell, so θ=2π2047\theta=\frac{2 \ell \pi}{2047}. The largest value for \ell such that θ<π\theta<\pi is at =1023\ell=1023, which gives θ=2046π2047\theta=\frac{2046 \pi}{2047}

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