AlgebraDifficulty 7.4National olympiad, round 2Prove itSouth Korea
Find all functions f:R→R such that for all x,y∈R f(x2015+f(y)2015)=f(x)2015+y2015.
Solution
Put x=0 in the given equation f(x2015+f(y)2015)=f(x)2015+y2015.(1) Then, we have f(f(y))2015=f(0)2015+y2015.(2) It implies that f is a bijective function. By putting f(x) to x in (1), we have f(f(x))2015+f(y)2015=f(f(x))2015+y2015(3) and by putting f(y) to y in (1), f(x2015+f(f(y))2015)=f(x)2015+f(y)2015.(4) In (3), we swipe x and y first and then take f on both sides, then we have f(f(f(x))2015+f(y)2015))=f(x2015+f(f(y))2015)=f(x)2015+f(y)2015. Since f is bijective, we have f(f(x))=x.(5) By (2), (3), and (5), we have (f(f(x))2015+f(y)2015)=x2015+y2015=f(f(x)2015)+f(f(y)2015)−2f(0)2015 and, since f is bijective, f(x+y)=f(x)+f(y)−2f(0)2015. Here, by putting x=y=0, we have f(0)=2f(0)2015. Hence f(0) is 0 or ±(21)20141. By putting f(y) to y in (2), we get f(y2015)=f(0)2015+f(y)2015. Consider an equation x2015−x+f(0)2015. It must have three different real roots f(−1), f(0) and f(1). However, if f(0)=±(21)20141, this equation does not have three different real roots. Therefore, f(0)=0 and f(1) is either 1 or −1. Now we have f(x+y)=f(x)+f(y) and f(y2015)=f(y)2015, and f(1) is either 1 or −1. We will prove that only f(x)=x and f(x)=−x satisfy these three conditions. If f(1)=−1, then we may consider g(x)=−f(x). It allows us to consider only the case where f(1)=1. By the general Cauchy method, we have f(x)=x for all x∈Q. Now we need to extend this function to real numbers. To do that, we will prove that f(x2)=f(x)2. Let (k2015)f(xk)−f(x)k=x2015−k for k=0,1,2,…,2015. Then, for any integer m, by calculating f((x+m)2015)=(f(x)+f(m))2015, we have i=0∑2015mixi=0. Now we think of it as a system of infinite number of equations. Claim. The system has a unique solution (x0,x1,…,x2015)=(0,0,…,0). *Proof.* Suppose there is another solution (y0,y1,…,y2015)=(0,0,…,0). Let s be the maximum index with ys=0. By multiplying ys1, we may assume that ys=1. Set m as a number bigger than ∣y0∣+∣y1∣+⋯+∣y2015∣. Then, 0=i=0∑2015miyi=i=0∑smiyi>msys−i=0∑s−1mi∣yi∣≥ms−ms−1∑∣yi∣>0 which yields a contradiction. Therefore it has a unique solution (0,0,…,0). □
The above claim says that f(xk)=f(x)k for k=0,1,2,…,2015. Especially, f(x2)=f(x)2≥0. Now, for every x>y, we have f(x)−f(y)=f(x−y)=f(x−y2)≥0, so f is increasing. Therefore, f(x)=x, and the candidates of the original problem are f(x)=x and f(x)=−x. Indeed, one can check that they are real solutions of the problem by substituting.
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