Introduction 16

where equality holds unless ν p (an ) = 21 ν p (C). We will prove that, for some `, ν p (a` ) = ν p (C). Suppose
for some n that ν p (an ) ≤ 21 ν p (C). In this case,

3
ν p (an+1 ) ≥ ν p (an ).
2
Hence, for some j > n, we will have ν p (an ) > 21 ν p (C).
Now, suppose ν p (C) > ν p (an ) > 21 ν p (C). Then, we have

1
ν p (an+1 ) =
(ν p (an ) + ν p (C))
2
=⇒ ν p (C) >ν p (an+1 ) > ν p (an ).

By iterating this, we find that ν p (C) > ν p (an+k ) > ν p (an+k−1 ) > · · · > ν p (an ). As the ν p (ai ) and ν p (C)
are all positive integers, this is impossible for large enough k. Finally, if ν p (an ) > ν p (C) > 21 ν p (C), we
find that
1
ν p (an+1 ) = (ν p (an ) + ν p (C))
2
=⇒ ν p (an ) >ν p (an+1 ) > ν p (C).

By iterating this, we find that ν p (an ) > ν p (an+k ) > ν p (an+k−1 ) > · · · > ν p (C), which is, again, impos-
sible for large k.
The previous two paragraphs imply that, for each n, we either have ν p (an ) ≤ 21 ν p (C) or ν p (an ) = ν p (C).
As we cannot have ν p (an ) ≤ 12 ν p (C) for all n, it follows that we have ν p (an ) = ν p (C) for some n.
However, if ν p (an ) = ν p (C),

1
ν p (an+1 ) = (ν p (an ) + min (2ν p (an ), ν p (C))) = ν p (an ),
2
implying that the sequence {ν p (ai )}∞
i=1 is eventually constant. It follows by repeating this argument
with every prime p | a1 | C (of which there are only finitely many) that the sequence {ai } is eventually
constant, so we are done.