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Quadruple with (a, b, c, d)
Posted:
Feb 2, 2013 5:26 AM
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Hello teacher~
Suppose not all four integers a, b, c, d are equal. Start with (a, b, c, d) and repeatedly replace (a, b, c, d) by (a-b, b-c, c-d, d-a).
Then at least one number of the quadruple will eventually become arbitrarily large.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Solution) Let P_n = (a_n, b_n, c_n, d_n) be the quadruple after n iterations. Then a_n + b_n + c_n + d_n = 0 for n >= 1.
A very importand function for the point P_n in 4-space is the square of its distance from the origin (0,0,0,0), which is (a_n)^2 + (b_n)^2 + (c_n)^2 + (d_n)^2.
.... omission For reference, text copy with jpg. http://board-2.blueweb.co.kr/user/math565/data/math/olilim.jpg ...
for n >=2, (a_n)^2 + (b_n)^2 + (c_n)^2 + (d_n)^2 >= {2^(n-1)}*{(a_1)^2 + (b_1)^2 + (c_1)^2 + (d_1)^2}.
The distance of the points P_n from the origin increases without bound, which means that at least one component must become arbitrarily large
---------------------------------------------------------------- Hm, my question is...
I know that a_n + b_n + c_n + d_n = 0 and I know that (a_n)^2 + (b_n)^2 + (c_n)^2 + (d_n)^2 increases without bound.
I can't understand that "at least one component must become arbitrarily large". I need your logical explanation or proof.
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