Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2007/ia/paper-1/9f/solution

Let for . This is an increasing continuous function. Starting at , induction gives : if , then , and every iterate is at least .
The first step has . Since is increasing, implies . Thus this sequence is increasing and bounded above. Let . For every , a term exceeds ; all later terms lie between it and . This proves convergence, the elementary bounded monotone sequence theorem.
For the second starting value, write the iterates as and . Here . Monotonicity of propagates this inequality, so is decreasing. It is bounded below by because every positive iterate is at least that value. Hence it converges to its infimum . From onward all terms lie in .
Continuity of permits passing to each limit in the recurrence, giving . To prove that these fixed points agree, suppose both satisfy that equality. Subtracting the two equations and rationalizing gives
The second factor is positive: , whereas . Thus . Therefore
Existence has been supplied by the two convergent sequences, and the subtraction argument gives the required uniqueness in their common interval.

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