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Algebra Difficulty 8.1 Shortlist Prove it Turkey

Determine all functions f:RR+f: \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}^+ satisfying the conditions
i. f(x2)=f(x)22xf(x), i.\ f(x^2) = f(x)^2 - 2x f(x),
ii. f(x)=f(x1), ii.\ f(-x) = f(x - 1),
iii. 1<x<y implies f(x)<f(y). iii.\ 1 < x < y \text{ implies } f(x) < f(y).
for all real numbers xx and yy.

Solution

There is only one such function, that is f(x)=x2+x+1f(x) = x^2 + x + 1.

Writing x=0x = 0 in (i) gives f(0)=f(0)2f(0) = f(0)^2. As f(x)>0f(x) > 0, f(0)=1f(0) = 1.

Plugging in x-x in (i) gives f(x)22xf(x)=f(x)2+2xf(x)f(x)^2 - 2x f(x) = f(-x)^2 + 2x f(-x), that is (f(x)f(x))(f(x)+f(x))=2x(f(x)+f(x))(f(x) - f(-x))(f(x) + f(-x)) = 2x(f(x) + f(-x)). Again as f(x)>0f(x) > 0, we obtain f(x)=f(x)+2xf(x) = f(-x) + 2x.

Then by (ii) we have f(x)=2x+f(x1)f(x) = 2x + f(x - 1) (*).

By induction on nn we can show that f(n)=n2+n+1f(n) = n^2 + n + 1 for all non-negative integer nn.

By (*) applying induction on nn gives f(x+n)=f(x)+2xn+n2+nf(x+n) = f(x) + 2x n + n^2 + n (**) for all real number xx and non-negative integer nn.

Let x=mnx = \frac{m}{n} where mm and nn are positive integers. Then by (**) we have f((x+n)2)=f(x2+2m+n2)=f(x2)+2x2(2m+n2)+(2m+n2)2+2m+n2f((x+n)^2) = f(x^2 + 2m + n^2) = f(x^2) + 2x^2(2m + n^2) + (2m + n^2)^2 + 2m + n^2.

On the other hand by (i) and (**) we get f((x+n)2)=(f(x)+2m+n2+n)22(x+n)(f(x)+2xn+n2+n)f((x+n)^2) = (f(x) + 2m + n^2 + n)^2 - 2(x+n)(f(x) + 2x n + n^2 + n).

The last two equations conclude that f(x)=x2+x+1f(x) = x^2 + x + 1 for all positive rational number xx.

Since both f(x)f(x) and x2+x+1x^2 + x + 1 are strictly increasing on (1,)(1, \infty) and there exists a rational number in any interval, we can easily show that f(x)=x2+x+1f(x) = x^2 + x + 1 for every real number x>1x > 1.

Using (*) and (iii) we can show that f(x)=x2+x+1f(x) = x^2 + x + 1 for all real number xx and it satisfies all three conditions.

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