Question
Let $\left\{ a_{n} \right\}$ be a sequence of real number such that $a_{1} = 2,a_{n + 1} = a_{n}^{2} - a_{n} + 1\forall n \in N$ and $S = \frac{1}{a_{1}} + \frac{1}{a_{2}} + \frac{1}{a_{3}} + \ldots + \frac{1}{a_{2019}}$, then
Options
Solution
Sol. [Key Concept: Iterate the recurrence to get the closed form.]
$$a_{n + 1} - 1 = a_{n}\left( a_{n} - 1 \right)$$
$$\begin{matrix} & \frac{1}{a_{n + 1} - 1} = \frac{1}{a_{n} - 1} - \frac{1}{a_{n}} \Rightarrow \frac{1}{a_{n}} = \frac{1}{a_{n} - 1} - \frac{1}{a_{n + 1} - 1} \\ & \ \Rightarrow \ S = \frac{1}{a_{1}} + \frac{1}{a_{2}} + \ldots\frac{1}{a_{2019}} = \frac{1}{a_{1} - 1} - \frac{1}{a_{2020} - 1} = 1 - \frac{1}{a_{2020} - 1} \end{matrix}$$
$$\begin{matrix} \Rightarrow \ a_{i} & \ > 1 \\ \text{ }S & \ < 1 \\ a_{2020} - 1 & \ = a_{2019}\left( a_{2019} - 1 \right) = a_{2019}a_{2018}\left( a_{2018} - 1 \right) \\ & \ = a_{2019}a_{2018}a_{2017}\ldots a_{2}a_{1}\left( a_{1} - 1 \right) \\ & \ = a_{1}a_{2}a_{3}\ldots a_{2019} \\ (2019)^{2019} & \ < \left( \frac{\frac{1}{a_{1}} + \frac{1}{a_{2}} + \frac{1}{a_{3}} + \ldots + \frac{1}{a_{2019}}}{a_{2020} - 1} \right)^{2019} < a_{1}a_{2}a_{3}\ldots a_{2019} = a_{2020} - 1 \\ \Rightarrow \ \frac{1}{(2019)^{2019}} & \text{ }S > 1 - \frac{1}{(2019)^{2019}} \end{matrix}$$
✔ (a) $S = 1 - \frac{1}{a_{2020} - 1} < 1$
✘ (b) $S > 1 - \frac{1}{{(2019)}^{2019}}$
✔ (c) $S > 1 - \frac{1}{{(2018)}^{2018}}$
✔ (d) $S > 1 - \frac{1}{{(2019)}^{2019}}$
Create a free account to view solution
View Solution Free