AlgebraDifficulty 8.0Prove itBaltic Way 2021 Shortlist · Baltic Way · 2021
Determine all integers C for which there exists a sequence (a1,a2,...) of positive integers satisfying an+12=C+(n+2021)an for all n≥1.
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Official solution
Clearly for C=1 we have the solution (an)n=1∞=(n+2019)n=1∞. Let's prove that this is the only value for C that works. Assume (an)n=1∞ is a solution and let (bn)n=1∞=(an−n)n=1∞. We claim that for n>∣C∣+20212: (i) If bn<2019, then bn<bn+1<2019. (ii) If bn>2019, then bn>bn+1>2019. It is clear that these two claims implies that bn=2019 for all large n and hence that C=1. Let us prove the claims: (i) First of all, bn≤2018 implies that an+12≤C+(n+2021)(n+2018)=(n+2020)2−n+C+2018⋅2021−20202<(n+2020)2 and hence an+1<n+2020 so that indeed bn+1<2019.
an+12=C+(n+2021)(n+bn)=(n+1+bn)2+(2019−bn)n+2021bn+C−(bn+1)2≥(n+1+bn)2+n+C−20192>(n+1+bn)2 and hence an+1>n+1+bn so that indeed bn+1>bn. (ii) First of all, bn≥2020 implies that an+12≥C+(n+2021)(n+2020)=(n+2020)2+n+C+2021>(n+2020)2 and hence an+1>n+2020 so that indeed bn+1>2019. Moreover, we have an+12=C+(n+2021)(n+bn)=(n+1+bn)2+(2019−bn)n+2021bn+C−(bn+1)2≤(n+1+bn)2−n+C<(n+1+bn)2 and hence an+1<n+1+bn so that indeed bn+1<bn.
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