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 of integers an is given by $a_0 = 0, a_n = p(a_n-1)$, where $p(x)$ is a polynomial whose coefficients are all positive integers. Show that for any two positive integers $m, k$ with greatest common divisor $d$, the greatest common divisor of $a_m$ and $a_k$ is $a_d$.

The sequence $(x_n)_{n\in\mathbb N}$ is defined by $x_1=x_2=1$, $x_{n+2}=14x_{n+1}-x_n-4$ for each $n\in\mathbb N$. Prove that all terms of this sequence are perfect squares.

For a positive integer $K$, define a sequence, $\{a_n\}$, as following: $a_1 = K$ and $a_{n+1} =a_n -1$ if $a_n$ is even $a_{n+1} =\frac{a_n - 1}{2}$ if $a_n$ is odd , for all $n \ge 1$. Find the smallest value of $K$, which makes $a_{2005}$ the first term equal to $0$.

Find the maximum value of $ x_{0}$ for which there exists a sequence $ x_{0},x_{1}\cdots ,x_{1995}$ of positive reals with $ x_{0} \equal{} x_{1995}$, such that \[ x_{i \minus{} 1} \plus{} \frac {2}{x_{i \minus{} 1}} \equal{} 2x_{i} \plus{} \frac {1}{x_{i}}, \] for all $ i \equal{} 1,\cdots ,1995$.

Sequence ${u_n}$ is defined with $u_0=0,u_1=\frac{1}{3}$ and $$\frac{2}{3}u_n=\frac{1}{2}(u_{n+1}+u_{n-1})$$ $\forall n=1,2,...$ Show that $|u_n|\leq1$ $\forall n\in\mathbb{N}.$

Consider $f (n, m)$ the number of finite sequences of $ 1$'s and $0$'s such that each sequence that starts at $0$, has exactly n $0$'s and $m$ $ 1$'s, and there are not three consecutive $0$'s or three $ 1$'s. Show that if $m, n> 1$, then $$f (n, m) = f (n-1, m-1) + f (n-1, m-2) + f (n-2, m-1) + f (n-2, m-2)$$

Let be a natural number $ m\ge 2. $ [b]a)[/b] Let be $ m $ pairwise distinct rational numbers. Prove that there is an ordering of these numbers such that these are terms of an arithmetic progression. [b]b)[/b] Given that for any $ m $ pairwise distinct real numbers there is an ordering of them such that they are terms of an arithmetic sequence, determine the number $ m. $ [i]Bogdan Blaga[/i]

Let $(a_n)_{n\ge 1}$ be a sequence such that $a_n > 1$ and $a_{n+1}^2 \ge a_n a_{n + 2}$, for any $n\ge 1$. Show that the sequence $(x_n)_{n\ge 1}$ given by $x_n = \log_{a_n} a_{n + 1}$ for $n\ge 1$ is convergent and compute its limit.

The sequence of numbers $a_1, a_2, a_3, ...$ is defined recursively by $a_1 = 1, a_{n + 1} = \lfloor \sqrt{a_1+a_2+...+a_n} \rfloor $ for $n \ge 1$. Find all numbers that appear more than twice at this sequence.

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 $a_k < bk$.

Let $n > 1$ be a given integer. Prove that infinitely many terms of the sequence $(a_k )_{k\ge 1}$, defined by \[a_k=\left\lfloor\frac{n^k}{k}\right\rfloor,\] are odd. (For a real number $x$, $\lfloor x\rfloor$ denotes the largest integer not exceeding $x$.) [i]Proposed by Hong Kong[/i]

Let $a_n$ be a sequence of positive numbers such that: i) $\dfrac{a_{n+2}}{a_n}=\dfrac{1}{4}$, for every $n\in\mathbb{N}^{\star}$ ii) $\dfrac{a_{k+1}}{a_k}+\dfrac{a_{n+1}}{a_n}=1$, for every $ k,n\in\mathbb{N}^{\star}$ with $|k-n|\neq 1$. (a) Prove that $(a_n)$ is a geometric progression. (n) Prove that exists $t>0$, such that $\sqrt{a_{n+1}}\leq \dfrac{1}{2}a_n+t$

Let $a > 1$ be a positive integer and $d > 1$ be a positive integer coprime to $a$. Let $x_1=1$, and for $k\geq 1$, define $$x_{k+1} = \begin{cases} x_k + d &\text{if } a \text{ does not divide } x_k \\ x_k/a & \text{if } a \text{ divides } x_k \end{cases}$$ Find, in terms of $a$ and $d$, the greatest positive integer $n$ for which there exists an index $k$ such that $x_k$ is divisible by $a^n$.

Consider the set of all strictly decreasing sequences of $n$ natural numbers having the property that in each sequence no term divides any other term of the sequence. Let $A = (a_j)$ and $B = (b_j)$ be any two such sequences. We say that $A$ precedes $B$ if for some $k$, $a_k < b_k$ and $a_i = b_i$ for $i < k$. Find the terms of the first sequence of the set under this ordering.

Let $1 + 1/2 + 1/3 +... + 1/n = a_n/b_n$, where $a_n$ and $b_n$ are relatively prime. Show that there exist infinitely many positive integers $n$, such that $b_{n+1} < b_n$. (8)

Find all integers $n \geq 3$ for which there exist real numbers $a_1, a_2, \dots a_{n + 2}$ satisfying $a_{n + 1} = a_1$, $a_{n + 2} = a_2$ and $$a_ia_{i + 1} + 1 = a_{i + 2},$$ for $i = 1, 2, \dots, n$. [i]Proposed by Patrik Bak, Slovakia[/i]

Given a positive integer $k$ show that there exists a prime $p$ such that one can choose distinct integers $a_1,a_2\cdots, a_{k+3} \in \{1, 2, \cdots ,p-1\}$ such that p divides $a_ia_{i+1}a_{i+2}a_{i+3}-i$ for all $i= 1, 2, \cdots, k$. [i]South Africa [/i]

Let $a_0,a_1,a_2...$ be a sequence of natural numbers with the following property: $a_n^2$ divides $a_{n-1} a_{n+1}$ for $\forall$ $n\in \mathbb{N}$. Prove that, if for some natural $k\geq 2$ the numbers $a_1$ and $a_k$ are coprime, then $a_1$ divides $a_0$.

The general term of a sequence of numbers is defined as $a_n =\frac{1}{n^2 - n}$, for every integer $n \ge 3$. That is, $a_3 =\frac16$, $a_4 =\frac{1}{12}$, $a_5 =\frac{1}{20}$, and so on. Find a general expression for the sum $S_n$, which is the sum of all terms from $a_3$ until $a_n$.

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 $\{a_1,a_2,...,a_{100}\}$ be a sequence of $100$ distinct real numbers. Show that there exists either an increasing subsequence $a_{i_1}<a_{i_2}<...<a_{i_{10}}$ $(i_1<i_2<...<i_{10})$ of $10$ numbers, or a decreasing subsequence $ a_{j_1}>a_{j_2}>...>a_{j_{12}}$ $(j_1<j_2<...<j_{12})$ of $12$ numbers, or both.

The infinite sequence $a_0, a_1, a_2, a_3,... $ is defined by $a_0 = 2$ and $$a_n =\frac{2a_{n-1} + 1}{a_{n-1} + 2}$$ , $n = 1, 2, 3, ...$ Prove that $1 < a_n < 1 + \frac{1}{3^n}$ for all $n = 1, 2, 3, . .$

It is known that the sequence $\{a_n\}$ satisfies $a_1=2$, $a_n=2^{2n}a_{n-1}+n\cdot 2^{n^2}$, $(n \ge 2)$, find the general term of $a_n$.

Let $(s_n)_{n\geq 1}$ be a sequence given by $s_n=-2\sqrt{n}+\sum \limits_{k=1}^n\frac{1}{\sqrt{k}}$ with $\lim \limits_{n \to \infty}s_n=s=$Ioachimescu constant and $(a_n)_{n\geq 1}$ , $(b_n)_{n\geq 1}$ be a positive real sequences such that $$\lim \limits_{n\to \infty}\frac{a_{n+1}}{na_n}=a\in \mathbb{R}^*_+, \lim \limits_{n\to \infty}\frac{b_{n+1}}{b_n\sqrt{n}}=b\in \mathbb{R}^*_+$$Compute$$\lim \limits_{n\to \infty}\left(1+e^{s_n}-e^{s_{n+1}}\right)^{\sqrt[n]{a_nb_n}}$$