Maths Olympiad Prep

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Problem 2343

IMO Shortlist mid-range; USAMO P2/P5
Algebra Difficulty 8.0 Prove it KöMaL problem A · Hungary · 2025

We say that a strictly increasing sequence of positive integers n1n_1, n2n_2, …\ldots is non-decelerating if nk+1−nk≤nk+2−nk+1n_{k+1}-n_k\le n_{k+2}-n_{k+1} holds for all positive integers kk. We say that a strictly increasing sequence n1n_1, n2n_2, …\ldots is convergence-inducing, if the following statement is true for all real sequences a1a_1, a2a_2, …\ldots: if subsequence am+n1a_{m+n_1}, am+n2a_{m+n_2}, …\ldots is convergent and tends to 0 for all positive integers mm, then sequence a1a_1, a2a_2, …\ldots is also convergent and tends to 0. Prove that a non-decelerating sequence n1n_1, n2n_2, …\ldots is convergence-inducing if and only if sequence n2−n1n_2-n_1, n3−n2n_3-n_2, …\ldots is bounded from above.

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