Practice (4)

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Let $a$, $b$, and $x_0$ all be positive integers. Sequence $\{x_n\}$ is defined as $x_{n+1}=ax_n + b$ where $n \ge 1$. Show that $x_1$, $x_2$, $\cdots$ cannot be all prime.


Determine all positive integer $n$ such that the following equation is solvable in integers: $$x^n + (2+x)^n + (2-x)^n = 0$$


Let sequence $\{a_n\}$ be $a_n=2^n + 3^n + 6^n - 1$ where $n\ge 1$. Find the sum of all positive integers which are co-prime to all the $a_n$.

Find, with proof, all ordered pairs of positive integers $(a, b)$ with the following property: there exist positive integers $r$, $s$, and $t$ such that for all $n$ for which both sides are defined, $$\binom{\binom{n}{a}}{b}=r\binom{n+s}{t}$$


How many different strings of length $10$ which contains only letter $A$ or $B$ contains no two consecutive $A$s are there?


Let $n$ and $k$ be two positive integers. Show that $$\frac{1}{\binom{n}{k}}=\frac{k}{k-1}\left(\frac{1}{\binom{n-1}{k-1}}-\frac{1}{\binom{n}{k-1}}\right)$$


Let $f(x)=a_0+a_1x+a_2x^2+\cdots +a_nx^n$ be a $n$-degree polynomial and all its coefficients $a_i$ $(0\le i\le n)$ be either $1$ or $-1$. If $f(x)$ has only real roots, what is the maximum value of $n$?


Let $\{a_n\}$ be a geometric sequence whose initial term is $a_1$ and common ratio is $q$. Show that $$a_1\binom{n}{0}-a_2\binom{n}{1}+a_3\binom{n}{2}-a_4\binom{n}{3}+\cdots+(-1)^na_{n+1}\binom{n}{n}=a_1(1-q)^n$$

where $n$ is a positive integer.


Let $n$ be a positive integer and function $\lfloor{x}\rfloor$ return the largest integer not exceeding $x$. Compute the value of $$\sum_{k=0}^{\lfloor{\frac{n}{2}}\rfloor}\binom{n-k}{k}$$


Show that $$\sum_{k=0}^{n}(-1)^k\frac{m}{m+k}\binom{n}{k}=\frac{1}{\binom{m+n}{n}}$$


Show that $$\sum_{k=0}^{n}(-1)^k2^{2n-2k}\binom{2n-k+1}{k}=n+1$$


Let the binary representation of positive integer $n$ be $b_tb_{t-1}\cdots b_1b_0$. Show that $$\binom{n}{2^j} \equiv b_j \pmod{2}$$

where $j$ is a non-negative integer. Note that $\binom{n}{m} = 0$ if $m > n$.


Let $n$ be a positive integer and $k$ be the number of $1$s in $n$'s binary representation. Show there are $2^k$ odd integers in $\binom{n}{0}$, $\binom{n}{1}$, $\cdots$, $\binom{n}{n}$.


Show that $$\left(\sum_{k=0}^{\infty}x^k\right)^2=\sum_{k=0}^{\infty}(k+1)x^k$$


Let $f(x)$ be the generating function for $a_0$, $a_1$, $a_2$, $\cdots$. Find the generating function for $$a_0, a_0 + a_1, a_0+a_1+a_2, \cdots$$


Show that $$\frac{1}{\sqrt{1-4x}}=\sum_{n=0}^{\infty}\binom{2n}{n}x^n$$


Find the sum of all $n$ such that $$\binom{n}{0}-\binom{n}{1}+\binom{n}{2}-\binom{n}{3}+\cdots +\binom{n}{2018} = 0$$


Compute the value of $$\sum_{k=0}^{n}\frac{1}{2^k}\binom{n+k}{n}$$


Let $\mathbb{N}$ be the set containing all positive integers. Is it possible to partition $\mathbb{N}$ to more than one but still a finite number of arithmetic sequences with no two having the same common difference?


What is the value of \[2^{\left(0^{\left(1^9\right)}\right)}+\left(\left(2^0\right)^1\right)^9?\]


What is the hundreds digit of $(20! - 15!)$?


Positive real numbers $x\ne 1$ and $y\ne 1$ satisfy $\log_2x=\log_y16$ and $xy=64$. What is $\left(\log_2\frac{x}{y}\right)^2$?


Positive real numbers $a$ and $b$ have the property that $$\sqrt{\log a}+\sqrt{\log b} +\log\sqrt{a} + \log\sqrt{b}=100$$

and all four terms on the left are positive integers, where $\log$ denotes the base-$10$ logarithm. What is $ab$?


Define binary operations $\diamondsuit$ and $\heartsuit$ by $$a\diamondsuit b=a^{\log_7(b)}\qquad\text{and}\qquad a\heartsuit b=a^{\frac{1}{\log_7(b)}}$$

for all real numbers $a$ and $b$ for which these expressions are defined. The sequence $(a_n)$ is defined recursively by $a_3=3\heartsuit 2$ and $$a_n=(n\heartsuit (n-1))\diamondsuit a_{n-1}$$

for all integers $n\ge 4$. To the nearest integer, what is $\log_7(a_{2019})$?


How many quadratic polynomials with real coefficients are there such that the set of roots equals the set of coefficients? (For clarification: If the polynomial is $ax^2+bc+c, a\ne 0$, and the roots are $r$ and $s$, then the requirement is that $\{a,\ b,\ c\}=\{r,\ s\}$.)