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USA Mathematical Talent Search Solutions To Problem 3/3/16

The document discusses two solutions to a recursive sequence problem. The first solution proves that elements ending in two or more identical digits come in groups of three with the same number of digits. The second solution more formally defines functions to prove the same using their bijectivity.

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31 views

USA Mathematical Talent Search Solutions To Problem 3/3/16

The document discusses two solutions to a recursive sequence problem. The first solution proves that elements ending in two or more identical digits come in groups of three with the same number of digits. The second solution more formally defines functions to prove the same using their bijectivity.

Uploaded by

Arsy
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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USA Mathematical Talent Search

Solutions to Problem 3/3/16


www.usamts.org

3/3/16. Define the recursive sequence 1, 4, 13, . . . by s1 = 1 and sn+1 = 3sn + 1 for all
positive integers n. The element s18 = 193710244 ends in two identical digits. Prove that
all the elements in the sequence that end in two or more identical digits come in groups of
three consecutive elements that have the same number of identical digits at the end.
Credit This problem was devised by Erin Schram of the NSA. It is based on an Olympiad
Problem of a 2003 issue of the Gazeta Matematica magazine that was posted on the Art of
Problem Solving forum.
Comments Many students proved that the last two digits repeat in a cycle of 20, and
used this cycle to prove that the elements in the sequence that end in two or more identical
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digits come in groups of three consecutive elements. Fewer students proved the second half
that within each of these groups of three, the three numbers have the identical number of
repeating digits at the end. Jeffrey Manning gives a clear, concise explanation, and Cary
Malkiewich gives us a more formal solution. Solutions edited by Richard Rusczyk.
Solution 1 by: Jeffrey Manning (9/CA)
If a number ends in two or more identical digits its last two digits must be identical.
Working out the sequence modulo 100 gives:
1, 4, 13, 40, 21, 64, 93, 80, 41, 24, 73, 20, 61, 84, 53, 60, 81, 44, 33, 00, 1, . . .
Since the sequence is recursive and s21 s1 1 mod 100 the sequence modulo 100
must repeat every 20 elements which means that all elements that end in two or more identical digits come in groups of three consecutive elements, where the digits are 4s in the first
element, 3s in the second and 0s in the third. Now we must prove that they end in the same
number of identical digits.
Let n be the number of 4s a the end of some element of the sequence. Since,
. . . 3}
3(444
. . . 4}) + 1 = 1 |333{z
| {z
n digits

n digits

and

3(333
. . . 3}) + 1 = 1 |000{z
. . . 0}
| {z
n digits

n digits

each element must end in at least as many identical digits as the previous element.
For the second element to end in more than n identical digits the last n + 1 digits of the
first element must be X 444
. . . 4}, where X is a digit other than 4 such that 3X + 1 3 mod
| {z
n digits

10, but the only single digit that would satisfy this is 4 which is a contradiction. This means
that the second element must end in exactly n identical digits.

USA Mathematical Talent Search


Solutions to Problem 3/3/16
www.usamts.org

Similarly, for the third element to end in more than n digits the last n + 1 digits of the
second element must be Y 333
. . . 3} where Y 6= 3 and 3Y + 1 0 mod 10, but similarly the
| {z
n digits

only single digit that would satisfy this is 3 which is a contradiction. So all three elements
must end in exactly n elements. The proof is complete.
Solution 2 by: Cary Malkiewich (12/MA)
Define 0 : Z10 Z10 and 1 : Z10 Z10 as follows:
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0 (a) = 3a mod 10
1 (a) = 3a + 1 mod 10

Lemma: The functions 0 and 1 are bijective.


Proof: This is proven simply by listing out elements.
0 (0) = 0

0 (5) = 5

1 (0) = 1

1 (5) = 6

0 (1) = 3

0 (6) = 8

1 (1) = 4

1 (6) = 9

0 (2) = 6

0 (7) = 1

1 (2) = 7

1 (7) = 2

0 (3) = 9

0 (8) = 4

1 (3) = 0

1 (8) = 5

0 (4) = 2

0 (9) = 7

1 (4) = 3

1 (9) = 8

Since every element of Z10 appears exactly once in the range of each function, each function
is bijective. 
1
As a result of this lemma, we can define 1
0 and 1 to be the inverses of the above
functions.

Since 1 (1) = 4, 1 (4) = 3, 1 (3) = 0, and 1 (0) = 1, the units digit in the given
sequence cycles through 1,4,3,0. These are only 4 numbers that could form the repeating
digits at the end of sn .

(k
1.
2.
3.

In order to rigorously prove the assertion, we must prove all three of these statements
> 1):
Iff sn ends in exactly k 4s, sn+1 ends in exactly k 3s.
Iff sn+1 ends in exactly k 3s, sn+2 ends in exactly k 0s.
sn can never end in two or more 1s.

USA Mathematical Talent Search


Solutions to Problem 3/3/16
www.usamts.org

1. Iff sn ends in exactly k 4s, sn+1 ends in exactly k 3s.


Assume a term sn of the sequence ends in a string of 4s that is exactly k digits long: (k > 1)
. . . x444 . . . 444
When sn is multiplied by 3, every 4 becomes a 12. A 1 is carried in every column, resulting
in a string of (k 1) 3s followed by a 2:
. . . [1 (x)]333 . . . 332
Then 1 is added, and the new number 3sn + 1 = sn+1 ends in a string of 3s that is k digits
long:
. . . [1 (x)]333 . . . 333

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The (k + 1) digit from the right, 1 (x), is not a 3. Since 1 is bijective, this would imply
that the digit x in sn is 1
1 (3) = 4, and we have assumed that only the last k digits were 4.
For the converse, suppose that sn+1 ends in exactly k 3s. sn ends in a 4, so suppose
sn ends with exactly m 4s. By the argument above, sn+1 ends in exactly m 3s. Therefore
m = k, and sn ends with exactly k 4s. 
2. Iff sn+1 ends in exactly k 3s, sn+2 ends in exactly k 0s.
Suppose sn+1 ends in a string of 3s that is exactly k digits long: (k > 1)
. . . y333 . . . 333
Then 3sn+1 will end in a string of 9s that is exactly k digits long:
. . . [0 (y)]999 . . . 999
3sn+1 + 1 = sn+2 will then end in a string of 0s that is k digits long:
. . . [1 (y)]000 . . . 000
The (k + 1) digit from the right, 1 (y), is not a 0. This would imply that the digit y in sn+1
is 1
1 (0) = 3, and we have assumed that only the last k digits were 3.
For the converse, suppose that sn+2 ends in exactly k 0s. sn+1 ends in a 3, so suppose
sn+1 ends with exactly m 3s. By the argument above, sn+2 ends in exactly m 0s. Therefore
m = k, and sn+1 ends with exactly k 3s. 
3. sn can never end in two or more 1s.
The last two digits form this repeating sequence of 20 terms:
01, 04, 13, 40, 21, 64, 93, 80, 41, 24, 73, 20, 61, 84, 53, 60, 81, 44, 33, 00

USA Mathematical Talent Search


Solutions to Problem 3/3/16
www.usamts.org

Since 11 is not a member of this sequence, no member of the original sequence sn can end
in two or more 1s. 
Now that all three statements have been proven, it follows that all elements in the
sequence that end in two or more identical digits (4, 3, 0) come in groups of three consecutive
elements (44 . . . 44, 33 . . . 33, 00 . . . 00) that have the same number (k) of identical digits at
the end.

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