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2015 AIME II Problems/Problem 13

Revision as of 16:50, 27 March 2015 by 1915933 (talk | contribs) (→‎Solution 1)

Problem

Define the sequence $a_1, a_2, a_3, \ldots$ by $a_n = \sum\limits_{k=1}^n \sin{k}$, where $k$ represents radian measure. Find the index of the 100th term for which $a_n < 0$.

Solution 1

If $n = 1$, $a_n = \sin(1) > 0$. Then if $n$ satisfies $a_n < 0$, $n \ge 2$, and \[a_n = \sum_{k=1}^n \sin(k) = \cfrac{1}{\sin{1}} \sum_{k=1}^n\sin(1)\sin(k) = \cfrac{1}{\sin{1}} \sum_{k=1}^n\cos(k - 1) - \cos(k + 1) = \cfrac{1}{\sin(1)} [\cos(0) + \cos(1) - \cos(n) - \cos(n + 1)].\] Since $\sin 1$ is positive, it does not affect the sign of $a_n$. Let $b_n = \cos(0) + \cos(1) - \cos(n) - \cos(n + 1)$. Now since $\cos(0) + \cos(1) = 2\cos\left(\cfrac{1}{2}\right)\cos\left(\cfrac{1}{2}\right)$ and $\cos(n) + \cos(n + 1) = 2\cos\left(n + \cfrac{1}{2}\right)\cos\left(\cfrac{1}{2}\right)$, $b_n$ is negative if and only if $\cos\left(\cfrac{1}{2}\right) < \cos\left(n + \cfrac{1}{2}\right)$, or when $n \in [2k\pi - 1, 2k\pi]$. Since $\pi$ is irrational, there is always only one integer in the range, so there are values of $n$ such that $a_n < 0$ at $2\pi, 4\pi, \cdots$. Then the hundredth such value will be when $k = 100$ and $n = \lfloor 200\pi \rfloor = \lfloor 628.318 \rfloor = \boxed{628}$.

Solution 2

Notice that $a_n$ is the imaginary part of $\sum_{k=1}^n e^{ik}$, by Euler's formula. Using the geometric series formula, we find that this sum is equal to \[\frac{e^{i(n+1)}-e^i}{e^i-1} = \frac{\cos (n+1) - \cos 1 + i (\sin (n+1) - \sin 1) }{\cos 1 - 1 + i \sin 1}\] \[= \frac{(\cos 1 - 1)(\cos(n+1)-\cos 1) + (\sin 1)(\sin(n+1)-\sin 1) + i((\sin(n+1) - \sin 1)(\cos 1 - 1) - (\sin 1)(\cos(n+1)-\cos 1))}{\cos^2 1 - 2 \cos 1 + 1 + \sin^2 1}\] We only need to look at the imaginary part, which is \[\frac{(\sin(n+1) \cos 1 - \cos(n+1) \sin 1) - \sin 1 \cos 1 + \sin 1 - \sin (n+1) + \sin 1 \cos 1}{2-2 \cos 1} = \frac{\sin n - \sin(n+1) + \sin 1}{2-2 \cos 1}\] Since $\cos 1 < 1$, $2-2 \cos 1 > 0$, so the denominator is positive. Thus, in order for the whole fraction to be negative, we must have $\sin n + \sin 1 < \sin (n+1) \implies \sin (n+1) - \sin n > \sin 1$. This only holds when $n$ is between $2\pi k - 1$ and $2\pi k$ for integer $k$ [continuity proof here], and since this has exactly one integer solution for every such interval, the $100$th such $n$ is $\lfloor 200\pi \rfloor = \boxed{628}$.


See also

2015 AIME II (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by
Problem 12 		Followed by
Problem 14
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15
All AIME Problems and Solutions

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