Let $a_1, a_2, a_3, \ldots$ be a sequence of positive real numbers, and $s$ be a positive integer, such that \[a_n = \max \{ a_k + a_{n-k} \mid 1 \leq k \leq n-1 \} \ \textrm{ for all } \ n > s.\] Prove there exist positive integers $\ell \leq s$ and $N$, such that \[a_n = a_{\ell} + a_{n - \ell} \ \textrm{ for all } \ n \geq N.\] [i]Proposed by Morteza Saghafiyan, Iran[/i]

Let be a sequence $ \left( x_n \right)_{n\ge 1} $ having the property that $$ \lim_{n\to\infty } \left( 14(n+2)x_{n+2} -15(n+1)x_{n+1} +nx_n \right) =13. $$ Show that $ \left( x_n \right)_{n\ge 1} $ is convergent and calculate its limit. [i]Cosmin Nițu[/i]

A sequence of integers $a_1,a_2,\ldots $ is defined by $a_1=1,a_2=2$ and for $n\geq 1$, $$a_{n+2}=\left\{\begin{array}{cl}5a_{n+1}-3a_{n}, &\text{if}\ a_n\cdot a_{n+1}\ \text{is even},\\ a_{n+1}-a_{n}, &\text{if}\ a_n\cdot a_{n+1}\ \text{is odd},\end{array}\right. $$ (a) Prove that the sequence contains infinitely many positive terms and infinitely many negative terms. (b) Prove that no term of the sequence is zero. (c) Show that if $n = 2^k - 1$ for $k\geq 2$, then $a_n$ is divisible by $7$.

Find the greatest natural number $n$ such there exist natural numbers $x_{1}, x_{2}, \ldots, x_{n}$ and natural $a_{1}< a_{2}< \ldots < a_{n-1}$ satisfying the following equations for $i =1,2,\ldots,n-1$: \[x_{1}x_{2}\ldots x_{n}= 1980 \quad \text{and}\quad x_{i}+\frac{1980}{x_{i}}= a_{i}.\]

Find all $C\in \mathbb{R}$ such that every sequence of integers $\{a_n\}_{n=1}^{\infty}$ which is bounded from below and for all $n\geq 2$ satisfy $$0\leq a_{n-1}+Ca_n+a_{n+1}<1$$ is periodic. Proposed by Navid Safaei

The sequence $a_1, a_2, a_3,...$ is defined so that $a_1 = 1$ and $a_{n+1} =\frac{a_1 + a_2 + ...+ a_n}{n}+1$ for $n \ge 1$. Show that for every positive real number $b$ we can find $a_k$ so that $a_k < bk$.

A real sequence $(a_n)_{n=0}^\infty$ is defined recursively by $a_0 = 2$ and the recursion formula $$ a_{n} = \begin{dcases} a_{n-1}^2 & \text{if $a_{n-1}<\sqrt3$} \\ \frac{a_{n-1}^2}{3} & \text{if $a_{n-1}\geq\sqrt 3$.} \end{dcases} $$ Another real sequence $(b_n)_{n=1}^\infty$ is defined in terms of the first by the formula $$ b_{n} = \begin{dcases} 0 & \text{if $a_{n-1}<\sqrt3$} \\ \frac{1}{2^{n}} & \text{if $a_{n-1}\geq\sqrt 3$,} \end{dcases} $$ valid for each $n\geq 1$. Prove that $$ b_1 + b_2 + \cdots + b_{2020} < \frac23. $$

Study the convergence of a sequence $ \left( x_n\right)_{n\ge 0} $ for which $ x_0\in\mathbb{R}\setminus\mathbb{Q} , $ and $ x_{n+1}\in \left\{ \frac{x_n+1}{x_n} , \frac{x_n+2}{2x_n-1}\right\} , $ for all $ n\ge 1. $

Given a sequence $(a_n)$ of non-negative real numbers such that $a_{n+m}\leq a_{n} a_{m} $ for all pairs of positive integers $m$ and $n,$ prove that the sequence $(\sqrt[n]{a_n })$ converges.

Show that there is no infinite sequence an of natural numbers such that \[a_{a_n}=a_{n+1}a_{n-1}-a_{n}^2\] for all $n\geq 2$

Let $ n > 1$ be an integer. Find all sequences $ a_1, a_2, \ldots a_{n^2 \plus{} n}$ satisfying the following conditions: \[ \text{ (a) } a_i \in \left\{0,1\right\} \text{ for all } 1 \leq i \leq n^2 \plus{} n; \] \[ \text{ (b) } a_{i \plus{} 1} \plus{} a_{i \plus{} 2} \plus{} \ldots \plus{} a_{i \plus{} n} < a_{i \plus{} n \plus{} 1} \plus{} a_{i \plus{} n \plus{} 2} \plus{} \ldots \plus{} a_{i \plus{} 2n} \text{ for all } 0 \leq i \leq n^2 \minus{} n. \] [i]Author: Dusan Dukic, Serbia[/i]

Given a non-decreasing unbounded sequence $a_n,$ construct a new sequence $b_n$ as follows $$b_n = \frac{a_2 - a_1}{a_2} + \frac{a_3 - a_2}{a_3} + ... + \frac{a_n - a_{n-1}}{a_n}$$ Prove that $b_n$ is also unbounded.

The sequence $<a_n>$ is defined as follows, $a_1=a_2=1$, $a_3=2$, $$a_{n+3}=\frac{a_{n+2}a_{n+1}+n!}{a_n},$$ $n \ge 1$. Prove that all the terms in the sequence are integers.

In the sequence of digits $2,0,2,9,3,...$ any digit it equal to the last digit in the decimal representation of the sum of four previous digits. Do the four numbers $2,0,1,5$ in that order occur in the sequence? Folklore

Let $ a_0 $ be a real number. The sequence $ \{a_n \} $ is given by $ a_ {n + 1} = 3 ^ n-5a_n $, $ n = 0,1,2, \ldots $. a) Express the general member $ a_n $ through $ a_0 $ and $ n. $ b) Find such $ a_0, $ that $ a_ {n + 1}> a_n, $ for every $ n. $

A strictly increasing sequence of positive integers $a_1, a_2, a_3, \ldots$ has the property that for every positive integer $k$, the subsequence $a_{2k-1}, a_{2k}, a_{2k+1}$ is geometric and the subsequence $a_{2k}, a_{2k+1}, a_{2k+2}$ is arithmetic. Suppose that $a_{13} = 2016$. Find $a_1$.

Let $ \alpha(n)$ be the number of digits equal to one in the binary representation of a positive integer $ n.$ Prove that: (a) the inequality $ \alpha(n) (n^2 ) \leq \frac{1}{2} \alpha(n)(\alpha(n) + 1)$ holds; (b) the above inequality is an equality for infinitely many positive integers, and (c) there exists a sequence $ (n_i )^{\infty}_1$ such that $ \frac{\alpha ( n^2_i )}{\alpha (n_i }$ goes to zero as $ i$ goes to $ \infty.$ [i]Alternative problem:[/i] Prove that there exists a sequence a sequence $ (n_i )^{\infty}_1$ such that $ \frac{\alpha ( n^2_i )}{\alpha (n_i )}$ (d) $ \infty;$ (e) an arbitrary real number $ \gamma \in (0,1)$; (f) an arbitrary real number $ \gamma \geq 0$; as $ i$ goes to $ \infty.$

Let $a, b$, and $c$ be positive integers such that $gcd(a, b) = 1$. Sequence $\{u_k\}$, is given such that $u_0 = 0$, $u_1 = 1$, and u$_{k+2} = au_{k+1} + bu_k$ for all $k \ge 0$. Let $m$ be the least positive integer such that $c | u_m$ and $n$ be an arbitrary positive integer such that $c | u_n$. Show that $m | n$. [hide=PS.] There was a typo in the last line, as it didn't define what n does. Wording comes from [b]tst-2011-1.pdf[/b] from [url=https://sites.google.com/site/imoidn/idntst/2011tst]here[/url]. Correction was made according to #2[/hide]

Let $n > 3$ be an integer. Prove that there exist positive integers $x_1,..., x_n$ in geometric progression and positive integers $y_1,..., y_n$ in arithmetic progression such that $x_1<y_1<x_2<y_2<...<x_n<y_n$

Let $m$ be a positive integer, and let $a_0, a_1,\ldots,a_m$ be a sequence of reals such that $a_0=37$, $a_1=72$, $a_m=0$, and \[a_{k+1}=a_{k-1}-\frac{3}{a_k}\] for $k=1,2, \dots, m-1$. Find $m$.

Given any $n$ positive integers, and a sequence of $2^n$ integers (with terms among them), prove there exists a subsequence made of consecutive terms, such that the product of its terms is a perfect square. Also show that we cannot replace $2^n$ with any lower value (therefore $2^n$ is the threshold value for this property).

The sequence $(a_n)$ is defined with the recursion $a_{n + 1} = 5a^6_n + 3a^3_{n-1} + a^2_{n-2}$ for $n\ge 2$ and the set of initial values $\{a_0, a_1, a_2\} = \{2013, 2014, 2015\}$. (That is, the initial values are these three numbers in any order.) Show that the sequence contains no sixth power of a natural number.

For every positive integer $n$, we define the function $p_n$ for $x\ge 1$ by $$p_n(x) = \frac12 \left(\left(x+\sqrt{x^2-1}\right)^n+\left(x-\sqrt{x^2-1}\right)^n\right).$$ Prove that $p_n(x) \ge 1$ and that $p_{mn}(x) = p_m(p_n(x))$.

Let $ n \geq 3 $ be an integer and let \begin{align*} x_1,x_2, \ldots, x_n \end{align*} be $ n $ distinct integers. Prove that \begin{align*} (x_1 - x_2)^2 + (x_2 - x_3)^2 + \ldots + (x_n - x_1)^2 \geq 4n - 6. \end{align*}

We define the following sequence: $a_0=a_1=1$, $a_{n+1}=14a_n-a_{n-1}$. Prove that $2a_n-1$ is a perfect square.