Numbers game

Given a sequence of $$n$$ integers $$a_1,\ldots,a_n$$, we map it to $$|a_1-a_2|,\ldots,|a_{n-1}-a_n|,|a_n-a_1|$$. We repeat this process again and again until all numbers become zero. For what $$n$$ is this process guaranteed to stop?

Solution:

Interestingly parity (not me!) plays a central role here. It turns out all sequences terminate if and only if all $$0-1$$ sequences do. Why? If all $$0-1$$ sequences terminate then any integer sequence eventually becomes an all-even sequence, and it doesn't harm to divide every number by $$2$$, and the process repeats. Note that the maximum number in the sequence never goes up, and goes down by half each time they are divided by $$2$$, so this process clearly will not go on forever than hence must stop.

So for what $$n$$ could all $$0-1$$ sequences terminate? It is not hard to show that if $$k$$ qualifies, then $$2k$$ does too, so all powers of two qualify. Clearly an odd $$n$$ does not qualify, because unless initially all numbers in the sequence are equal, the second to the last step is obtain the alternating sequence $$0,1,\ldots,0,1$$, which doesn't exist for odd $$n$$.

What about an even $$n$$ not a power of two? Here comes the most fun part. If $$n=(2k+1)2^m$$, divide the sequence into $$2k+1$$ blocks, each of length $$2^m$$. Let each block starts with either $$(0,\ldots,0)$$ or $$(1,0,\ldots,0)$$. With the same argument used to show that $$2k$$ qualifies if $$k$$ does, we can show that after a cycle a block becomes $$(1,0,\ldots,0)$$ if either itself or the subsequent block is $$(1,0,\ldots,0)$$, and $$(0,\ldots,0)$$ if it is identical to the subsequent block. So, its behavior is identical to $$n=2k+1$$ if $$(1,0,\ldots,0)$$ is considered $$1$$ and $$(0,\ldots,0)$$ is $$0$$. Since an odd $$n$$ does not qualify, neither does $$n=(2k+1)2^m$$.