IMC 2010

Define the sequence $x_1, x_2, ...$ inductively by $x_1 = \sqrt{5}$ and $x_{n+1} = x_n^2 - 2$ for each $n \geq 1$ . Compute $\lim_{n \to \infty} \frac{x_1 \cdot x_2 \cdot x_3 \cdot ... \cdot x_n}{x_{n+1}}$ .

Denote by $S_n$ the group of permutations of the sequence $(1,2,\dots,n).$ Suppose that $G$ is a subgroup of $S_n,$ such that for every $\pi\in G\setminus\{e\}$ there exists a unique $k\in \{1,2,\dots,n\}$ for which $\pi(k)=k.$ (Here $e$ is the unit element of the group $S_n.$ ) Show that this $k$ is the same for all $\pi \in G\setminus \{e\}.$

Let $A$ be a symmetric $m\times m$ matrix over the two-element field all of whose diagonal entries are zero. Prove that for every positive integer $n$ each column of the matrix $A^n$ has a zero entry.