Olympiad Maths Prep

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Problem 130

AMC 10/12, early questions
Combinatorics Difficulty 3.4 Find the answer

The function ff 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 u0=4u_0=4 and un+1=f(un)u_{n+1} = f(u_n) for n0n \ge 0, find u2002u_{2002}
(A) 1(B) 2(C) 3(D) 4(E) 5\text{(A) }1 \qquad \text{(B) }2 \qquad \text{(C) }3 \qquad \text{(D) }4 \qquad \text{(E) }5

Official solution

We can guess that the series given by the problem is periodic in some way. Starting off, u0=4u_0=4 is given. u1=u0+1=f(u0)=f(4)=5,u_1=u_{0+1}=f(u_0)=f(4)=5, so u1=5.u_1=5. u2=u1+1=f(u1)=f(5)=2,u_2=u_{1+1}=f(u_1)=f(5)=2, so u2=2.u_2=2. u3=u2+1=f(u2)=f(2)=1,u_3=u_{2+1}=f(u_2)=f(2)=1, so u3=1.u_3=1. u4=u3+1=f(u3)=f(1)=4,u_4=u_{3+1}=f(u_3)=f(1)=4, so u4=4.u_4=4. Plugging in 44 will give us 55 as found before, and plugging in 55 will give 22 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 unu_n is found by simply plugging in the number from the last box into f(x).f(x). The function is periodic every 44 terms. 20022(mod4)2002 \equiv 2\pmod{4}, and counting 44 starting from u1u_1 will give us our answer of (B) 2\boxed{\textbf{(B) } 2}.

Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic, difficulty and ordering added by this site.