Let be the set of all positive integers. Determine all functions that satisfy
for all positive integers and ;
for all positive .
Let be the set of all positive integers. Determine all functions that satisfy
for all positive integers and ;
for all positive .
Our main tool will be the observation that
This is true because the functional equation then leads to which is only possible when both positive integers, and , are equal to 1. In particular, the given and imply . The given functional equation then implies
hence for all positive integers . It follows by induction that for all positive integers .
If is not divisible by 23, the linear congruence has a solution which can be chosen to be a positive integer. We then have and so by (6).
We can write each positive integer as with some and not divisible by 23. From above we now have . Hence, the only function that satisfies the given condition is the constant function for all . It is easy to see that this function indeed satisfies all the conditions.