Which sum of sum of arithmetic progressions?

Algebra Level 3

Consider an arithmetic progression with terms a 1 , a 2 , , a n a_1, a_2, \ldots , a_n .

Define S m = a 1 + a 2 + + a m S_m = a_1 + a_2 + \cdots + a_m and T m = S 1 + S 2 + + S m T_m = S_1 + S_2 + \cdots + S_m .

If we are given the value of S 2019 S_{2019} , we are able to uniquely determine the value of T m T_m for some integer m m .

What is the value of m m ?


Inspiration .


The answer is 3028.

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2 solutions

Hypergeo H.
Mar 29, 2020

Nice question!

It is interesting to note the following:

If we define hypersums R q = i = 1 q T i \displaystyle R_q = \sum_{i=1}^q T_i and Z k = i = 1 k R i \displaystyle Z_k = \sum_{i=1}^k R_i , then

a 1 + a p 2 = S p ( p 1 ) = T m ( m + 1 2 ) = R q ( q + 2 3 ) = Z k ( k + 3 4 ) \frac {a_1+a_p} 2= \;\displaystyle \frac {S_p} {\dbinom p 1} = \frac {T_m} {\dbinom {m+1}2} = \frac {R_q} {\dbinom {q+2}3} = \frac {Z_k} {\dbinom {k+3}4}

where p 1 2 = m 1 3 = q 1 4 = k 1 5 \dfrac {p-1}2 = \dfrac {m-1}3= \dfrac {q-1}4 = \dfrac {k-1}5 .

It can be shown this relationship is true for higher order hypersums as well.

For this case, solving p 1 2 = m 1 3 \dfrac {p-1}2 = \dfrac {m-1}3 gives m = 1 + 3 2 ( p 1 ) m=1+\dfrac 3 2 (p-1) and substituting p = 2019 p = 2019 gives m = 3028 m = \color{#D61F06}{3028} .


Details added:

Note that

S n = r = 1 n a r = ( n 1 ) a + ( n 2 ) d = ( n 1 ) ( a + n 1 2 d ) T m = n = 1 m S n = ( m + 1 2 ) a + ( m + 1 3 ) d = ( m + 1 2 ) ( a + m 1 3 d ) R q = m = 1 q T m = ( q + 2 3 ) a + ( q + 2 4 ) d = ( q + 2 3 ) ( a + q 1 4 d ) Z k = q = 1 k R q = ( k + 3 4 ) a + ( k + 3 5 ) d = ( k + 3 4 ) ( a + k 1 5 d ) \small\begin{aligned} S_n &=\sum_{r=1}^n a_r &&=\binom n1 a \qquad+ \binom n2 d &&= \binom n1\qquad \left(a + \frac {n-1}2 \cdot d\right)\\ T_m &=\sum_{n=1}^m S_n &&=\binom {m+1}2 a + \binom {m+1}3 d &&= \binom {m+1}2 \left(a+ \frac {m-1}3\cdot d\right)\\ R_q &=\sum_{m=1}^q T_m &&= \binom {q+2}3 a+\binom {q+2}4 d &&=\binom {q+2}3 \left( a +\frac {q-1}4 \cdot d\right)\\ Z_k &=\sum_{q=1}^k R_q &&= \binom {k+3}4 a+\binom {k+3}5 d &&=\binom {k+3}4 \left( a +\frac {k-1}5 \cdot d\right)\\ \end{aligned}

Wonderful exposition!

Pi Han Goh - 1 year, 2 months ago

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Thank you! :)

Hypergeo H. - 1 year, 2 months ago

Let the first term of the progression be a and the common difference be d. Then S 2019 S_{2019} =2019a+2037171d; T m T_{m} = 1 3 \dfrac{1}{3} m(m+1)[3a+(m-1)d]. Comparing the coefficients of a and d in the two equations, we get 2019 3 \dfrac{2019}{3} = 2037171 m 1 \dfrac{2037171}{m-1} or m=1+3027=3028.

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