Maths Olympiad Prep

Track / Stage 5 / 217 of 400 #817 of 1964

Problem 817

AIME late
Algebra Difficulty 5.5 Find the answer

Example 3 Given a1=12,an+1=an+32an4(na_{1}=\frac{1}{2}, a_{n+1}=\frac{a_{n}+3}{2 a_{n}-4}(n \in
N+\mathbf{N}_{+}). Find the general term formula ana_{n}.
(2005, Hope Cup Training Question)

A number or a short expression. Spacing, $ signs and \frac vs / are all fine.

Official solution

Let x=x+32x4x=\frac{x+3}{2 x-4}. Then
2x25x3=0 2 x^{2}-5 x-3=0 \text {. }

Therefore, x1=12,x2=3x_{1}=-\frac{1}{2}, x_{2}=3 are the two fixed points of f(x)=x+32x4f(x)=\frac{x+3}{2 x-4}. Hence
an+1+12=an+32an4+12=2(an+12)2an4,an+13=an+32an43=5(an3)2an4. \begin{array}{l} a_{n+1}+\frac{1}{2}=\frac{a_{n}+3}{2 a_{n}-4}+\frac{1}{2}=\frac{2\left(a_{n}+\frac{1}{2}\right)}{2 a_{n}-4}, \\ a_{n+1}-3=\frac{a_{n}+3}{2 a_{n}-4}-3=\frac{-5\left(a_{n}-3\right)}{2 a_{n}-4} . \end{array}
(1) ÷ (2) gives
an+1+12an+13=25an+12an3. \frac{a_{n+1}+\frac{1}{2}}{a_{n+1}-3}=-\frac{2}{5} \cdot \frac{a_{n}+\frac{1}{2}}{a_{n}-3} .

Therefore, the sequence {an+12an3}\left\{\frac{a_{n}+\frac{1}{2}}{a_{n}-3}\right\} is a geometric sequence with the first term a1+12a13=25\frac{a_{1}+\frac{1}{2}}{a_{1}-3}=-\frac{2}{5} and common ratio 25-\frac{2}{5}.
 Hence an+12an3=(a1+12a13)(25)n1=(25)n. \begin{array}{l} \text { Hence } \frac{a_{n}+\frac{1}{2}}{a_{n}-3}=\left(\frac{a_{1}+\frac{1}{2}}{a_{1}-3}\right)\left(-\frac{2}{5}\right)^{n-1} \\ =\left(-\frac{2}{5}\right)^{n} . \end{array}

Therefore, an=(5)n+3×2n+12n+12(5)n(nN+)a_{n}=\frac{(-5)^{n}+3 \times 2^{n+1}}{2^{n+1}-2(-5)^{n}}\left(n \in \mathbf{N}_{+}\right).

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