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Algebra Difficulty 8.1 Shortlist Prove it Baltic Way

Find all functions f:RRf: \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R} that for all real xx and yy satisfy the equation
f(y2f(x))=yf(x)2+f(x2y+y). f(y^2 - f(x)) = yf(x)^2 + f(x^2y + y).

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

Answer: The only such a function is f(x)=0f(x) = 0.
At first, assume that f(x)>0f(x) > 0 for some xRx \in \mathbb{R}. It means that we can choose yy such that
y2f(x)=x2y+y y^2 - f(x) = x^2y + y
(because for f(x)>0f(x) > 0 this equation has two solutions with respect to yy), and if we insert it into the given equation we obtain an equality yf(x)2=0yf(x)^2 = 0. As f(x)>0f(x) > 0 then y=0y = 0. But y=0y = 0 is not a solution of y2f(x)=x2y+yy^2 - f(x) = x^2y + y — contradiction. Thus f(x)0f(x) \le 0 for all xRx \in \mathbb{R}.
Note that f(x)=0f(x) = 0 is a solution. So assume that f(x0)<0f(x_0) < 0 for some x0Rx_0 \in \mathbb{R}. At first we show that ff is unbounded. Assume the contrary and put x0x_0 into the equation. We get that
f(y2f(x0))f(x02y+y)=yf(x0)2, f(y^2 - f(x_0)) - f(x_0^2y + y) = yf(x_0)^2,
and see that if f(x)f(x) is bounded then the left hand side of this equality also is bounded, but the right hand side is unbounded, that is impossible.
If we put y=0y = 0 in the original equation we get that f(f(x))=f(0)f(-f(x)) = f(0). As f(x)f(x) is unbounded and nonpositive we conclude that we can find arbitrarily large yy such that f(y)=f(0)f(y) = f(0). Now put x=x0x = x_0 and choose y0y_0 such that y0>f(0)f(x0)2y_0 > \frac{-f(0)}{f(x_0)^2} and f(y0(x02+1))=f(0)f(y_0(x_0^2 + 1)) = f(0). We get that
f(y02f(x0))=y0f(x0)2+f(y0(x02+1))>f(0)+f(0)=0, f(y_0^2 - f(x_0)) = y_0f(x_0)^2 + f(y_0(x_0^2 + 1)) > -f(0) + f(0) = 0,
what contradicts the fact, that f(x)0f(x) \le 0 for all real xx.

Solution 2

For y=0y = 0 we have f(f(x))=f(0)f(-f(x)) = f(0), in particular f(f(0))=f(0)f(-f(0)) = f(0). Denote f(0)=cf(0) = c.
For x=0x = 0 we have f(y2c)=yc2+f(y)f(y^2 - c) = yc^2 + f(y) and substituting y-y instead of yy gives
f(y2c)=yc2+f(y), f(y^2 - c) = -yc^2 + f(-y),
hence f(y)=2yc2+f(y)f(-y) = 2yc^2 + f(y) for any yy.
Finally,
yf(x)2+f(x2y+y)=f(y2f(x))=f((y)2f(x))=yf(x)2+f(x2yy)==yf(x)2+2(x2y+y)c2+f(x2y+y), yf(x)^2 + f(x^2y + y) = f(y^2 - f(x)) = f((-y)^2 - f(x)) = -yf(x)^2 + f(-x^2y - y) = \\ = -yf(x)^2 + 2(x^2y + y)c^2 + f(x^2y + y),
hence 2yf(x)2=2(x2y+y)c22yf(x)^2 = 2(x^2y + y)c^2 and f(x)=±cx2+1f(x) = \pm c\sqrt{x^2+1} (the choice of ±\pm may depend on xx).
Then f(f(0))=f(0)f(-f(0)) = f(0) gives ±cc2+1=c\pm c\sqrt{c^2+1} = c, c=0c = 0 and f(x)=0f(x) = 0 for every xx.

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