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Problem
of the Week |
The famous harmonic sequence {a1 ,a2 ,a3 a4,...} has the terms
ak = 1 + 1/2 + 1/3 + ××× + 1/k.
It's well-known that the terms of this sequence grow without bound, so the terms will eventually exceed any given positive integer. (But don't hold your breath as the terms grow excruciatingly slowly -- for instance, ak first exceeds 10 at k = 12367, and at k = 1,000,000 you haven't yet reached 15.)
Clearly a1 is an integer. Find all values of k for which ak is an integer.
(For the lionhearted: Find all integers that can be expressed as an - am, the difference of two terms of the harmonic sequence, or equivalently, find all integers which can be expressed as the sum of the reciprocals of consecutive integers.)
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ã2002 Alberto L. Delgado