Infinite GP

Algebra Level 2

Let a 1 , a 2 , a 3 , a_1, a_2, a_3 , \ldots form an infinite geometric progression such that all of its terms are positive integers, and the product of the first 4 terms is 64. Find a 5 a_5 .


The answer is 16.

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2 solutions

Chew-Seong Cheong
Sep 25, 2016

Let the common ratio of the GP be r r , then we have:

a 1 a 2 a 3 a 4 = 64 a 1 a 1 r a 1 r 2 a 1 r 3 = 64 a 1 4 r 6 = 2 6 \begin{aligned} a_1 \cdot a_2 \cdot a_3 \cdot a_4 & = 64 \\ a_1 \cdot a_1r \cdot a_1r^2 \cdot a_1r^3 & = 64 \\ a_1^4 r^6 & = 2^6 \end{aligned}

For a 1 a_1 , a 2 a_2 , a 3 a_3 and a 4 a_4 to be integers, both a 1 a_1 and r r must also be integers. For a 1 4 r 6 = 2 6 a_1^4 r^6 = 2^6 , the solution must be a 1 = 1 a_1 = 1 and r = 2 r=2 . Therefore, a 1 = 1 a_1=1 , a 2 = 2 a_2=2 , a 3 = 4 a_3=4 , a 4 = 8 a_4=8 and a 5 = 16 a_5 = \boxed{16} .

let a1=x/r^3

a2=x/r

a3=xr

a4=x * r^3

a1 * a2 * a3 * a4= x^4

x^4=64

x=2*2^(1/2)

however a1,a3,a3,a4.... are positive integers

therefore r=2^(1/2)

therefore the gp is 1,2,4,8...

therefore a5 will be 16

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