Olympiad Maths Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 5.1 AIME, harder Prove it Ukraine

Prove that for any collection a1,a2,,a2011a_1, a_2, \dots, a_{2011} of real numbers with a20110a_{2011} \neq 0 there exists a function f:RRf: \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}, such that for any real xx we have:
a1f(x)+a2f(f(x))++a2011f(f(ff(x)))2011=x. a_1 f(x) + a_2 f(f(x)) + \dots + a_{2011} \underbrace{f(f(f\dots f(x)\dots))}_{2011} = x.

Solution

We will search for the function ff in the form f(x)=kxf(x) = kx with k0k \neq 0. Then
f(f(ff(x)))n=knx. \underbrace{f(f(f\dots f(x)\dots))}_{n} = k^n x.
So the equality from the problem statement becomes:
a1kx+a2k2x++a2011k2011x=x. a_1 kx + a_2 k^2 x + \dots + a_{2011} k^{2011} x = x.
We cancel xx and obtain the following equation
a2011k2011+a2010k2010++a2k2+a1k1=0, a_{2011}k^{2011} + a_{2010}k^{2010} + \dots + a_2k^2 + a_1k - 1 = 0,
which has a non-zero solution, because the left-hand side is a polynomial of an odd degree with non-zero leading and free coefficients. So, for this kk the function f(x)=kxf(x) = kx will solve the problem.

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