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Algebra Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Prove it Taiwan

Find all pairs of functions (f,g)(f, g) mapping the set of positive integers to the set of positive integers satisfying
fg(n)+1(n)+gf(n)(n)=f(n+1)g(n+1)+1 f^{g(n)+1}(n) + g^{f(n)}(n) = f(n+1) - g(n+1) + 1
for all positive integers nn. Here f1(n)=f(n)f^1(n) = f(n), fk+1(n)=f(fk(n))f^{k+1}(n) = f(f^k(n)) are defined.

Solution

The only pair of functions (f,g)(f, g) satisfying the statement of the problem is f(n)=n,g(n)=1f(n) = n, g(n) = 1.
From the condition we know that for all positive integers nn we have
f(fg(n)(n))<f(n+1). f(f^{g(n)}(n)) < f(n+1).
Let us list all the values that the function ff can attain in increasing order as y1<y2<y_1 < y_2 < \dots (this sequence may be finite or infinite in length). We will next use mathematical induction to prove that:
(i)n:f(x)=yn if and only if x=n, (i)_n : f(x) = y_n \text{ if and only if } x = n,
(ii)n:yn=n. (ii)_n : y_n = n.

nn has f(x)=a=yaf(x) = a = y_a if and only if x=ax = a. Note that this also means that for any 1a<n1 \le a < n
and positive integer k,fk(x)=ak, f^k(x) = a if and only if x=ax = a.
Since for y1,y2,,yny_1, y_2, \cdots, y_n there is exactly one positive integer corresponding to each of them under ff, therefore yn+1y_{n+1} exists. Take any positive integer xx such that f(x)=yn+1f(x) = y_{n+1}, then xx must be greater than nn (according to (i)1,,(i)n(i)_1, \cdots, (i)_n). Substituting x1x-1 into the above inequality gives
f(fg(x1)(x1))<f(x)=yn+1, f(f^{g(x-1)}(x-1)) < f(x) = y_{n+1},
therefore if we denote fg(x1)(x1)=bf^{g(x-1)}(x-1) = b, then we have
b1,,n b \in 1, \cdots, n
If b<nb < n, then we would have x1=b<nx - 1 = b < n (because fk(x1)=b<nf^k(x - 1) = b < n
if and only if x1=bx - 1 = b), which contradicts x>nx > n. Therefore b=nb = n, hence yn=ny_n = n (because we already know
yn1=n1y_{n-1} = n - 1, so nn is the smallest positive integer in the range that is greater than yn1y_{n-1}), and this proves (ii)n(ii)_n.
So according to fg(x1)(x1)=nf^{g(x-1)}(x-1) = n and (i)n(i)_n, we know that x1=nx - 1 = n, that is, the only possible
value of xx is x=n+1x = n + 1, and this also proves (i)n+1(i)_{n+1}.
By mathematical induction we can know that (i)n(i)_n and (ii)n(ii)_n hold for all positive integers nn. Therefore f(n)=nf(n) = n. Substituting back into the original condition of the problem, we obtain gn(n)+g(n+1)=2g^n(n) + g(n+1) = 2. Since the range of g(n)g(n) is the positive integers, we can immediately deduce that g(n)=1g(n) = 1.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement translated into English from zh; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.