Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /20 of 27

Algebra Difficulty 8.5 Shortlist Prove it Saudi Arabia

Find all non-constant functions f:Q+Q+f: \mathbb{Q}^+ \to \mathbb{Q}^+ satisfying the equation
f(ab+bc+ca)=f(a)f(b)+f(b)f(c)+f(c)f(a) f(ab + bc + ca) = f(a)f(b) + f(b)f(c) + f(c)f(a)
for all a,b,cQ+a, b, c \in \mathbb{Q}^+.

Solution

Put c=1c = 1 in the given condition, we have
f(ab+a+b)=f(a)f(b)+f(a)f(1)+f(b)f(1);a,bQ+,(1) f(ab + a + b) = f(a)f(b) + f(a)f(1) + f(b)f(1); \quad \forall a, b \in \mathbb{Q}^{+}, \quad (1)
Put b=3b = 3 into (1), we have
f(4a+3)=f(a)f(3)+f(a)f(1)+f(3)f(1);aQ+. f(4a + 3) = f(a)f(3) + f(a)f(1) + f(3)f(1); \quad \forall a \in \mathbb{Q}^{+}.
Put b=1b = 1 into (1), we have
f(2a+1)=2f(a)f(1)+f(1)2;aQ+. f(2a + 1) = 2f(a)f(1) + f(1)^2; \quad \forall a \in \mathbb{Q}^{+}.
Thus
f(4a+3)=2f(2a+1)f(1)+f(1)2=4f(1)2f(a)+2f(1)3+f(1)2;aQ+. f(4a + 3) = 2f(2a + 1)f(1) + f(1)^2 = 4f(1)^2f(a) + 2f(1)^3 + f(1)^2; \quad \forall a \in \mathbb{Q}^{+}.
From these, we can conclude that
[f(3)+f(1)]f(a)+f(3)f(1)=4f(1)2f(a)+2f(1)3+f(1)2;aQ+. [f(3) + f(1)] f(a) + f(3)f(1) = 4f(1)^2f(a) + 2f(1)^3 + f(1)^2; \quad \forall a \in \mathbb{Q}^{+}.
If f(3)+f(1)4f(1)2f(3) + f(1) \neq 4f(1)^2 then ff is constant. Thus f(3)+f(1)=4f(1)2f(3) + f(1) = 4f(1)^2, otherwise ff will be constant. So we must have
f(3)+f(1)=4f(1)2 and f(3)f(1)=2f(1)3+f(1)2. f(3) + f(1) = 4f(1)^2 \text{ and } f(3)f(1) = 2f(1)^3 + f(1)^2.
Thus f(3),f(1)f(3), f(1) are solutions of the quadratic equation t22f(1)t+2f(1)3+f(1)2=0t^2 - 2f(1)t + 2f(1)^3 + f(1)^2 = 0, thus
f(1)24f(1)2+2f(1)3+f(1)2=0f(1)2(f(1)1)=0. f(1)^2 - 4f(1)^2 + 2f(1)^3 + f(1)^2 = 0 \Leftrightarrow f(1)^2(f(1) - 1) = 0.
f(ab+a+b)=f(a)f(b)+f(a)+f(b);a,bQ+(2) f(ab + a + b) = f(a)f(b) + f(a) + f(b); \quad \forall a, b \in \mathbb{Q}^{+} \quad (2)
Continue to put b=1b = 1 and b=3b = 3, we get
f(4a+3)=4f(a)+3 and f(2a+1)=2f(a)+1. f(4a + 3) = 4f(a) + 3 \text{ and } f(2a + 1) = 2f(a) + 1.
Put a=b=c=13a = b = c = \frac{1}{3} into the given condition, f(13)=3f(13)2f(\frac{1}{3}) = 3f(\frac{1}{3})^2 so f(13)=13f(\frac{1}{3}) = \frac{1}{3}.
Put a=2a = 2 and b=13b = \frac{1}{3} into (2), we have f(3)=f(2)f(13)+f(13)+f(2)f(3) = f(2)f(\frac{1}{3}) + f(\frac{1}{3}) + f(2), thus f(2)=2f(2) = 2.
Put b=c=2b = c = 2 into the given condition, f(4a+4)=4f(a)+4f(4a + 4) = 4f(a) + 4; aQ+\forall a \in \mathbb{Q}^{+} thus
4f(a)+4=f(4a+4)=f(4(a+14)+3)=4f(a+14)+3. 4f(a) + 4 = f(4a + 4) = f\left(4\left(a + \frac{1}{4}\right) + 3\right) = 4f\left(a + \frac{1}{4}\right) + 3.
From these, we can conclude that f(a+14)=f(a)+14f(a + \frac{1}{4}) = f(a) + \frac{1}{4}, thus
f(4a+4)=4f(a)+4;aQ+. f(4a + 4) = 4f(a) + 4; \quad \forall a \in \mathbb{Q}^{+}.
Hence, by induction, one can show that f(x+n)=f(x)+nf(x + n) = f(x) + n for all positive integer nn and positive real number xx; thus f(n)=n,nZ+f(n) = n, \quad \forall n \in \mathbb{Z}^{+}.
Finally, put bnb \to n and amn+1a \to \frac{m}{n+1} for some m,nZ+m, n \in \mathbb{Z}^{+} into (2), we get
f(m+n)=f(n)f(mn+1)+f(mn+1)+f(n)f(mn+1)=mn+1. f(m + n) = f(n)f\left(\frac{m}{n+1}\right) + f\left(\frac{m}{n+1}\right) + f(n) \to f\left(\frac{m}{n+1}\right) = \frac{m}{n+1}.
Thus f(x)=xf(x) = x for all xQ+x \in \mathbb{Q}^{+}. It is easy to check this function satisfies the condition. \square

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.