The function is given by the table
\begin{tabular}{|c||c|c|c|c|c|} \hline x & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 \\ \hline f(x) & 4 & 1 & 3 & 5 & 2 \\ \hline \end{tabular}
If and for , find
Problem 130
Official solution
We can guess that the series given by the problem is periodic in some way. Starting off, is given. so so so so Plugging in will give us as found before, and plugging in will give and so on. This means that our original guess of the series being periodic was correct. Summing up our findings in a nice table,
\begin{tabular}{|c||c|c|c|c|c|c|} \hline n & 0 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & ...\\ \hline un & 4 & 5 & 2 & 1 & 4 & ...\\ \hline \end{tabular}
in which the next is found by simply plugging in the number from the last box into The function is periodic every terms. , and counting starting from will give us our answer of .