Harmonically Monotonic

Algebra Level 3

If a 1 , a 2 , a 3 , . . . { a }_{ 1 }, { a }_{ 2 }, { a }_{ 3 }, ... be a harmonic progression such that a 1 = 5 a_1 = 5 and a 20 = 25 a_{20} = 25 . Find the least value of n n for which a n < 0 a_n < 0 .


The answer is 25.

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1 solution

Chew-Seong Cheong
Jan 27, 2018

Let a n = 1 a + ( n 1 ) d a_n = \dfrac 1{a+(n-1)d} , where n N n \in \mathbb N . Then a 1 = 1 a = 5 a_1 = \dfrac 1a = 5 , a = 1 5 \implies a = \dfrac 15 . And a 20 = 1 a + 19 d = 25 a_{20} = \dfrac 1{a+19d} = 25 , d = 1 25 1 5 19 = 4 475 \implies d = \dfrac {\frac 1{25}-\frac 15}{19} = - \dfrac 4{475} . Then,

a n < 0 1 a + ( n 1 ) d < 0 a + ( n 1 ) d < 0 1 5 4 ( n 1 ) 475 < 0 n > 95 4 + 1 = 24.25 n > 25 \begin{aligned} a_n & < 0 \\ \frac 1{a+(n-1)d} & < 0 \\ a+(n-1) d & < 0 \\ \frac 15 - \frac {4(n-1)}{475} & < 0 \\ n & > \frac {95}4+1 = 24.25 \\ \implies n & > \boxed{25} \end{aligned}

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