Suppose a1,a2,…,a100 are positive real numbers such that ak=ak−1−(k−1)kak−1 for k=2,3,…,100. Given that a20=a23, compute a100.
A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.
Solution
If we cross multiply, we obtain anan−1=nan−1+(n−1)an, which we can rearrange and factor as (an−n)(an−1−(n−1))=n(n−1). Let bn=an−n. Then, bnbn−1=n(n−1). If we let b1=t, then we have by induction that bn=nt if n is odd and bn=n/t if n is even. So we have an={nt+nn/t+n if n odd if n even for some real number t. We have 20/t+20=23t+23, so t∈{−1,20/23}. But if t=−1, then a1=0 which is not positive, so t=20/23 and a100=100/t+100=215.
Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track
puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.
Source: Omni-MATH,
licensed Apache-2.0.
Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.