An infinite sequence of pairwise distinct numbers a1,a2,a3,... is defined thus: an is the smallest positive integer number such that √an+√an−1+...+√a1 is positive integer.
Prove that the sequence a1,a2,a3,... contains all positive integers numbers.
My work:
Let a1=1. Then √a2+1 is positive integer and a2 is the smallest positive integer then a2=3.
Then √a3+2 is positive integer and a3 is the smallest positive integer then a3=2.
Then √a4+√a3+√a2+√a1=√a4+2 is positive integer and a4 is the smallest positive integer and a4≠a1,a2,a3 then a4=7.
Answer
(not an answer, only meant to share my astonishment)
Look at it, guys! Just freaking look at it!
First 50 terms:
1, 3, 2, 7, 6, 13, 5, 22, 4, 33, 10, 12, 21, 11, 32, 19, 20, 31, 30, 43, 9, 45, 18, 44, 29, 58, 8, 60, 17, 59, 28, 75, 16, 76, 27, 94, 15, 95, 26, 115, 14, 116, 25, 138, 24, 163, 23, 190, 35, 42.
My first guess was that the thing is chaotic, and we won’t ever be able to prove a thing. Now I’ve changed my mind.
Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : Roman83 , Answer Author : Ivan Neretin