Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 5.9 AIME, harder Prove it India

Problem:
Find all functions f:RRf: \mathbf{R} \rightarrow \mathbf{R} such that
f(x2+yf(z))=xf(x)+zf(y) f\left(x^{2}+y f(z)\right)=x f(x)+z f(y)
for all x,y,zx, y, z in R\mathbf{R}. (Here R\mathbf{R} denotes the set of all real numbers.)

Solution

Solution:
Taking x=y=0x=y=0 in (1), we get zf(0)=f(0)z f(0)=f(0) for all zRz \in \mathbf{R}. Hence we obtain f(0)=0f(0)=0.

Taking y=0y=0 in (1), we get
f(x2)=xf(x) f\left(x^{2}\right)=x f(x)
Similarly x=0x=0 in (1) gives
f(yf(z))=zf(y) f(y f(z))=z f(y)
Putting y=1y=1 in (3), we get
f(f(z))=zf(1)zR f(f(z))=z f(1) \quad \forall z \in \mathbf{R}
Now using (2) and (4), we obtain
f(xf(x))=f(f(x2))=x2f(1) f(x f(x))=f\left(f\left(x^{2}\right)\right)=x^{2} f(1)
Put y=z=xy=z=x in (3) also given
f(xf(x))=xf(x) f(x f(x))=x f(x)
Comparing (5) and (6), it follows that x2f(1)=xf(x)x^{2} f(1)=x f(x). If x0x \neq 0, then f(x)=cxf(x)=c x, for some constant cc. Since f(0)=0f(0)=0, we have f(x)=cxf(x)=c x for x=0x=0 as well. Substituting this in (1), we see that
c(x2+cyz)=cx2+cyz c\left(x^{2}+c y z\right)=c x^{2}+c y z
or
c2yz=cyzy,zR c^{2} y z=c y z \quad \forall y, z \in \mathbf{R}
This implies that c2=cc^{2}=c. Hence c=0c=0 or 11. We obtain f(x)=0f(x)=0 for all xx or f(x)=xf(x)=x for all xx. It is easy to verify that these two are solutions of the given equation.

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