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Algebra Difficulty 6.5 National olympiad Prove it Romania

Find all pairs of twice differentiable functions f,g:RRf, g : \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}, such that ff'' and gg'' are continuous, such that
(f(x)g(y))(f(x)g(y))(f(x)g(y))=0, (f(x) - g(y)) \cdot (f'(x) - g'(y)) \cdot (f''(x) - g''(y)) = 0,
for all x,yRx, y \in \mathbb{R}.

Solution

Let (f,g)(f, g) be a pair of functions satisfying the given condition. We shall show that ff'' is constant. Suppose that ff'' is not constant. Then, because (f(x)g(0))(f(x)g(0))(f(x)g(0))=0(f(x) - g(0)) \cdot (f'(x) - g'(0)) \cdot (f''(x) - g''(0)) = 0, for all xRx \in \mathbb{R}, and ff'' is continuous, there is aRa \in \mathbb{R} and r>0r > 0 such that f(x){0,g(0)}f''(x) \notin \{0, g''(0)\}, for any x(ar,a+r)x \in (a - r, a + r). It follows that (f(x)g(0))(f(x)g(0))=0(f(x) - g(0)) \cdot (f'(x) - g'(0)) = 0, for x(ar,a+r)x \in (a - r, a + r).

Two cases are possible.
Case 1. There exists b(ar,a+r)b \in (a - r, a + r) such that f(b)g(0)f'(b) \ne g'(0). By continuity of ff', there is s>0s > 0 such that (bs,b+s)(ar,a+r)(b - s, b + s) \subset (a - r, a + r) and f(x)g(0)f'(x) \ne g'(0), for all x(bs,b+s)x \in (b - s, b + s), implying f(x)=g(0)f(x) = g(0) for x(bs,b+s)x \in (b - s, b + s). We get f(x)=0f''(x) = 0 for x(bs,b+s)x \in (b - s, b + s), a contradiction.

Case 2. f(x)=g(0)f'(x) = g'(0), for any x(ar,a+r)x \in (a-r, a+r). We obtain f(x)=0f''(x) = 0, for all x(ar,a+r)x \in (a-r, a+r), a contradiction again.

Thus ff'' is constant on R\mathbb{R}.
Let mRm \in \mathbb{R} such that f(x)=2mf''(x) = 2m, for any xRx \in \mathbb{R}. As (f(x)2mx)=0(f'(x) - 2mx)' = 0, for all xRx \in \mathbb{R}, there is nRn \in \mathbb{R} such that f(x)2mxn=0f'(x) - 2mx - n = 0, for xRx \in \mathbb{R}. As a consequence there exists pRp \in \mathbb{R} such that f(x)=mx2+nx+pf(x) = mx^2 + nx + p, for all xRx \in \mathbb{R}.
In the same way, gg'' is constant on R\mathbb{R}, implying the existence of m,n,pRm', n', p' \in \mathbb{R} such that g(x)=mx2+nx+pg(x) = m'x^2 + n'x + p', for xRx \in \mathbb{R}. In the case mmm \neq m', as the equation (f(x)g(x))(f(x)g(x))=0(f(x) - g(x)) \cdot (f'(x) - g'(x)) = 0 has at most three real solution, the condition of the problem is not possible. Thus m=mm = m', so the pairs of functions satisfying the given conditions are of the form f(x)=mx2+nx+pf(x) = mx^2 + nx + p and g(x)=mx2+nx+pg(x) = mx^2 + n'x + p', for any xRx \in \mathbb{R}.

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