Proving this sequence is eventually periodic with a period a power of 2

Sparkson

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Nov 29, 2020
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This problem was sent to me by my friend.

Let there be a sequence of positive integers a1, a2, ....For all ai, multiply ai in base 10 by 52020, replace each digit with its remainder when divided by 2, and read the result as a binary number. Call this new number ai+1. If a1 is any positive integer, show that ak=ak+22020 for large enough k.

I managed to show that any number greater than 22021 will eventually reduce to a number less than 22021, so I can just consider numbers less than 22021. I thought of using pigeonhole principle, but that didn't help in showing the period would be a power of 2. I experimented with numbers less than 2020 (like 2, 3, 4), but I couldn't find anything useful.

Thanks in advance.
 
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