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SAMC

Saudi Arabia algebra

Problem

Let and be sequences defined by , , , , and , , , . How many integers do the sequences have in common?
Solution
We have , , , and , , , It follows , , , and . We prove by induction of step 2 that for we have . The basis cases , are verified above. Assume that Adding these inequalities we get , that is . The sequences have in common only three integers: .
Final answer
3

Techniques

Recurrence relationsInduction / smoothing