cos ( 2 n α ) \displaystyle\cos(2^{n}\alpha) gets mad!

Algebra Level 3

Does there exist a real number α \alpha such that cos ( 2 n α ) < 1 3 \cos(2^{n}\alpha)< -\dfrac{1}{3} holds true for all nonnegative integer n n ?

No. Yes.

This section requires Javascript.
You are seeing this because something didn't load right. We suggest you, (a) try refreshing the page, (b) enabling javascript if it is disabled on your browser and, finally, (c) loading the non-javascript version of this page . We're sorry about the hassle.

1 solution

Haosen Chen
Apr 13, 2018

Easy to see that α = 2 k π ± 2 π 3 \alpha =2k\pi \pm \frac{2\pi}{3} ( k Z ) (k\in \mathbb{Z}) will meet our requests.So the answer is yes.

If you are interested ^_^, the following is the proof of the uniqueness.

First,let's show that : for all nonnegative integer n n ,we have c o s ( 2 n α ) + 1 2 ( 5 3 ) n c o s α + 1 2 \displaystyle|cos(2^{n}\alpha)+\frac{1}{2}|\ge (\frac{5}{3})^{n}|cos\alpha+\frac{1}{2}| .

Do induction on n n .The case n = 0 n=0 is obvious. Assume that for n 1 n-1 the relation holds.

Then for n n , c o s ( 2 n α ) + 1 2 = 2 c o s 2 ( 2 n 1 α ) 1 4 \displaystyle|cos(2^{n}\alpha)+\frac{1}{2}| =2|cos^{2}(2^{n-1}\alpha) -\frac{1}{4}|

= 2 c o s ( 2 n 1 α ) 1 2 c o s ( 2 n 1 α ) + 1 2 \displaystyle=2|cos(2^{n-1}\alpha)-\frac{1}{2}||cos(2^{n-1}\alpha)+\frac{1}{2}|

2 ( 1 3 + 1 2 ) ( 5 3 ) n 1 c o s α + 1 2 \displaystyle\ge 2(\frac{1}{3}+\frac{1}{2})(\frac{5}{3})^{n-1}|cos\alpha +\frac{1}{2}| ,the relation also holds.

Now,since 1 c o s ( 2 n α ) < 1 3 \displaystyle -1\le cos(2^{n}\alpha) < -\frac{1}{3} , we see c o s ( 2 n α ) + 1 2 1 |cos(2^{n}\alpha)+\frac{1}{2}|\le 1 .

Therefore, 0 c o s α + 1 2 ( 3 5 ) n 0\le |cos\alpha+\frac{1}{2}|\le (\frac{3}{5})^{n} for all nonnegative integer n n .

But lim n + ( 3 5 ) n = 0 \lim_{n\rightarrow +\infty} (\frac{3}{5})^{n} =0 , which implies c o s α = 1 2 cos\alpha = -\frac{1}{2} .

So α = 2 k π ± 2 π 3 \alpha =2k\pi \pm \frac{2\pi}{3} ( k Z ) (k\in \mathbb{Z}) are the all values α \alpha can take.

0 pending reports

×

Problem Loading...

Note Loading...

Set Loading...