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Algebra Difficulty 8.9 Shortlist Prove it Switzerland

Problem:
Let R>0\mathbb{R}_{>0} denote the set of positive real numbers. Find all functions f:R>0R>0f: \mathbb{R}_{>0} \rightarrow \mathbb{R}_{>0} such that
x+f(yf(x)+1)=xf(x+y)+yf(yf(x)) x+f(y f(x)+1)=x f(x+y)+y f(y f(x))
for all positive real numbers xx and yy.

Solution

Solution:
Let ff be a solution to the FE. By plugging y=xf(x)y=\frac{x}{f(x)}, we obtain
x+f(x+1)=xf(x+xf(x))+xf(x+1)=xf(x+xf(x)) x+f(x+1)=x f\left(x+\frac{x}{f(x)}\right)+x \Longleftrightarrow f(x+1)=x f\left(x+\frac{x}{f(x)}\right)
Plug in x=1x=1 in (1) to get
f(2)=f(1+1f(1)) f(2)=f\left(1+\frac{1}{f(1)}\right)
Note that if ff is injective, one can easily finish as f(1)=1f(1)=1 by the previous equality. By plugging in x=1x=1 in the original equation, we get
1=yf(y)f(y)=1y,yR>0 1=y f(y) \Longleftrightarrow f(y)=\frac{1}{y}, \quad \forall y \in \mathbb{R}_{>0}
which is indeed a solution to the equation:
x+f(yx+1)=xx+y+yf(yx)x+xx+y=xx+y+x,x,yR>0 x+f\left(\frac{y}{x}+1\right)=\frac{x}{x+y}+y f\left(\frac{y}{x}\right) \Longleftrightarrow x+\frac{x}{x+y}=\frac{x}{x+y}+x, \quad \forall x, y \in \mathbb{R}_{>0}
Now, it remains to prove that ff is injective: Assume that there exist u,vR>0u, v \in \mathbb{R}_{>0}, with u>vu>v such that f(u)=f(v)f(u)=f(v). Rewriting the initial equation, we get:
x(1f(x+y))=yf(yf(x))f(yf(x)+1). x \cdot(1-f(x+y))=y f(y f(x))-f(y f(x)+1) .
Substituting x=ux=u and x=vx=v in the latter equation, we get that
u(f(u+y)1)=v(f(v+y)1),yR>0 u \cdot(f(u+y)-1)=v \cdot(f(v+y)-1), \quad \forall y \in \mathbb{R}_{>0}
and by replacing yyvy \rightarrow y-v and introducing C=uv>0C=u-v>0, we get
u(f(C+y)1)=v(f(y)1),y>v u \cdot(f(C+y)-1)=v \cdot(f(y)-1), \quad \forall y>v
Let y0y_{0} be a fixed constant such that v<y0v+Cv<y_{0} \leq v+C and let's analyse the sequence (f(y0+nC))nN\left(f\left(y_{0}+n C\right)\right)_{n \in \mathbb{N}}. If f(y0)=1f\left(y_{0}\right)=1, we get that the sequence (f(y0+nC))nN\left(f\left(y_{0}+n C\right)\right)_{n \in \mathbb{N}} is constant and every term is equal to 1.
Now, if f(y0)1f\left(y_{0}\right) \neq 1, by (5), observe that
uv=f(y0+nC)1f(y0+(n+1)C)1nN \frac{u}{v}=\frac{f\left(y_{0}+n C\right)-1}{f\left(y_{0}+(n+1) C\right)-1} \quad \forall n \in \mathbb{N}
Therefore, by induction or telescopic product, we get
f(y0+nC)1=(vu)n(f(y0)1) f\left(y_{0}+n C\right)-1=\left(\frac{v}{u}\right)^{n} \cdot\left(f\left(y_{0}\right)-1\right)
Hence, by making nn \rightarrow \infty and using v<uv<u, we get that the sequence (f(y0+nC))nN\left(f\left(y_{0}+n C\right)\right)_{n \in \mathbb{N}} converges to 1. From these two cases, we conclude that the sequence (f(y0+nC))nN\left(f\left(y_{0}+n C\right)\right)_{n \in \mathbb{N}} converges to 1 for any v<y0v<y_{0}. Now, let an=y0+nCa_{n}=y_{0}+n C and let's make the substitution y=anf(x)y=\frac{a_{n}}{f(x)}. We get
x+f(an+1)=xf(x+anf(x))+anf(x)f(an) x+f\left(a_{n}+1\right)=x f\left(x+\frac{a_{n}}{f(x)}\right)+\frac{a_{n}}{f(x)} \cdot f\left(a_{n}\right)
and let's fix x=cx=c. Then, when
n+,c+f(an+1)c+1 n \rightarrow+\infty, \quad c+f\left(a_{n}+1\right) \rightarrow c+1
because the sequence
(f((y0+1)+nC))nN=(f(an+1))nN \left(f\left(\left(y_{0}+1\right)+n C\right)\right)_{n \in \mathbb{N}}=\left(f\left(a_{n}+1\right)\right)_{n \in \mathbb{N}}
converges to 1 . However, we have
cf(c+anf(c))+anf(c)f(an)+ c f\left(c+\frac{a_{n}}{f(c)}\right)+\frac{a_{n}}{f(c)} \cdot f\left(a_{n}\right) \rightarrow+\infty
because
anf(c)f(an)+ and cf(c+anf(c))>0 \frac{a_{n}}{f(c)} \cdot f\left(a_{n}\right) \rightarrow+\infty \text{ and } c f\left(c+\frac{a_{n}}{f(c)}\right)>0
Thus, we get a contradiction by (7).

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