Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 5.0 AIME, harder Prove it Bulgaria

Problem:

Let a1>0a_{1}>0 and an+1=an+nana_{n+1}=a_{n}+\frac{n}{a_{n}} for n≥1n \geq 1. Prove that:

a) an≥na_{n} \geq n for n≥2n \geq 2;

b) the sequence {ann}n≥1\left\{\frac{a_{n}}{n}\right\}_{n \geq 1} converges and find its limit.

Solution

Solution:

a) We have a2=a1+1a1≥2a_{2}=a_{1}+\frac{1}{a_{1}} \geq 2. If an≥na_{n} \geq n, then
an+1−n−1=an+nan−n−1=(an−1)(an−n)an≥0 a_{n+1}-n-1=a_{n}+\frac{n}{a_{n}}-n-1=\frac{\left(a_{n}-1\right)\left(a_{n}-n\right)}{a_{n}} \geq 0
and the assertion follows by induction.

b) Let n≥2n \geq 2. It follows from a) that an+1≤an+1a_{n+1} \leq a_{n}+1. Then an≤a2+n−2a_{n} \leq a_{2}+n-2, whence 1≤ann≤1+a2−2n1 \leq \frac{a_{n}}{n} \leq 1+\frac{a_{2}-2}{n}. Therefore the sequence (ann)n≥1\left(\frac{a_{n}}{n}\right)_{n \geq 1} is convergent and its limit equals 11.

Remark. One can prove the stronger statement that lim⁡n→∞(an−n)=0\lim _{n \rightarrow \infty}\left(a_{n}-n\right)=0.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.