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Given the Function, Calculate the Value (Posted on 2023-08-08) Difficulty: 3 of 5
Each of A and B is a positive real number. Consider this function:
         A*B
A o B = -----
         A+B
Determine the value of:

21o(22o(23o ......o(22022 o 22023)))

See The Solution Submitted by K Sengupta    
Rating: 5.0000 (1 votes)

Comments: ( Back to comment list | You must be logged in to post comments.)
Solution Computer approximation, Analytic Solution | Comment 1 of 4
The program I wrote gets an overflow error at 2^514
But the answer is a tiny finite amount above 1; certainly equal to 1 in the limit.
The computer solution having essentially failed, let's try analytic.

Analytic Solution
For any integer n, 
2^(n-1)*2^n / (2^(n-1) + 2^n) 
= 2^(2n-1) / (3*2^(n-1))
= 2^n / 3

If you apply the same function to 2^(n-2) and 2^n / 3, you get
= 2^n / 7
Combining that with 2^(n-3) ...
= 2^n / 15

continuing the pattern to include 2^(n-k) ...
= 2^n / ((2^k - 1)+(2^k)) or 
= 2^n / (2^(k+1) - 1)
For our problem, n is 2023, we're going all the way to 1, so k is n-1.

So the final answer is 
2^2023 / (2^2023 - 1)

----------------------
def o(a,b):
    return a*b/(a+b)

def otower(n):
    ans = o(2**n, 2**(n-1))
    for i in range(n-2,0,-1):
        ans = o(ans,2**i)
    return ans

for n in range(2,520):
    try:
        print(n,otower(n))
    except OverflowError:
        break

  Posted by Larry on 2023-08-08 08:14:12
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