Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /7 of 92

Algebra Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Prove it Iran

Find all functions f:RRf : \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R} that for all x,yRx, y \in \mathbb{R},
f(x+y)f(x2xy+y2)=x3+y3. f(x + y)f(x^2 - xy + y^2) = x^3 + y^3.

Solution

Let P(x,y)P(x, y) denote the assertion given in the statement of the problem. If there exists aa such that f(a)=0f(a) = 0, P(a,0)P(a, 0) results in a=0a = 0. Now
P(x,xy)f(2xy)f(x2xy+y2)=(2xy)(x2xy+y2) P(x, x-y) \rightarrow f(2x-y)f(x^2-xy+y^2) = (2x-y)(x^2-xy+y^2)
By dividing this equation by P(x,y)P(x, y) (where x+y0x + y \neq 0), it is obtained that
f(2xy)f(x+y)=2xyx+y(1) \frac{f(2x - y)}{f(x + y)} = \frac{2x - y}{x + y} \qquad (1)
In equation (1) put y=1xy = 1-x. This will result in f(3x1)=(3x1)f(1)f(3x-1) = (3x-1)f(1) and because 3x13x-1 is surjective over real numbers, we conclude that f(x)=xf(1)f(x) = xf(1). By putting this equality in the original equality, it is deduced that f(1)=±1f(1) = \pm 1 so functions f(x)=xf(x) = x and f(x)=xf(x) = -x are the only answers. ■

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.