Let f:(0,∞)→R be such that for all x,y∈(0,∞), f(x+y)=f(xyx+y)+f(xy). Show that f(xy)=f(x)+f(y) for all x,y∈(0,∞).
Solution
First, we show that f(ab)=f(a)+f(b) for a,b∈(0,∞) such that a2b≥4. In fact, if a2b≥4 and a,b>0, then we can find x,y>0 such that x+y=ab and xy=b, namely x=(2/b)a+a2−(4/b)>0andy=(2/b)a−a2−(4/b)>0.
Thus, for a,b∈(0,∞) such that a2b≥4, we plug x,y as above in the functional equation to get f(ab)=f(x+y)=f(xyx+y)+f(xy)=f((ab)/b)+f(b)=f(a)+f(b). Now let x,y>0. Let z=max{x2y24,x2y4,y24}>0. Then (xy)2z≥4, x2(yz)≥4 and y2z≥4 which imply that f(xyz)=f(xy)+f(z), f(xyz)=f(x)+f(yz) and f(yz)=f(y)+f(z) respectively. Therefore, f(xy)=f(xyz)−f(z)=(f(x)+f(yz))−f(z)=f(x)+f(yz)−f(z)=f(x)+(f(y)+f(z))−f(z)=f(x)+f(y).
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