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Algebra Difficulty 5.4 AIME, harder Prove it Romania

Determine all functions f:RRf : \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R} such that:
f(xf(x)+f(y))=f(f(x2))+y,x,yR. f(xf(x) + f(y)) = f(f(x^2)) + y, \quad \forall x, y \in \mathbb{R}.

Solution

We claim that the solutions are f1=1Rf_1 = 1_{\mathbb{R}} and f2=1Rf_2 = -1_{\mathbb{R}}.

For x=0x = 0 we obtain f(f(y))=f(f(0))+yf(f(y)) = f(f(0)) + y, for each yRy \in \mathbb{R}, so ff is an one-to-one function.

For y=0y = 0 we have f(xf(x)+f(0))=f(f(x2))f(xf(x) + f(0)) = f(f(x^2)), xR\forall x \in \mathbb{R}, which, due to ff being one-to-one, leads to xf(x)+f(0)=f(x2)xf(x) + f(0) = f(x^2), xR\forall x \in \mathbb{R}.

Putting x=1x = 1 in the last relation gives f(0)=0f(0) = 0, so the last relation can be written as xf(x)=f(x2)xf(x) = f(x^2), xR\forall x \in \mathbb{R}, while the first relation becomes f(f(x))=xf(f(x)) = x, xR\forall x \in \mathbb{R}.

Putting xf(x)x \to f(x) in the above relation, we have f(f(x)2)=f(f(x))f(x)=xf(x)=f(x2)f(f(x)^2) = f(f(x))f(x) = xf(x) = f(x^2), which, due to ff being one-to-one, implies that (f(x))2=x2(f(x))^2 = x^2, so for each xRx \in \mathbb{R} we have f(x)=xf(x) = x or f(x)=xf(x) = -x.

Supposing that exists a pair (x0,y0)R×R(x_0, y_0) \in \mathbb{R}^* \times \mathbb{R}^* such that f(x0)=x0f(x_0) = x_0 and f(y0)=y0f(y_0) = -y_0. Putting xx0x \to x_0 and yy0y \to y_0 in the given functional equation, we obtain f(x2y)=x2+yf(x^2 - y) = x^2 + y, so x2y=x2+yx^2 - y = x^2 + y or x2y=x2yx^2 - y = -x^2 - y, implying that y=0y = 0 or x=0x = 0, which is a contradiction. Therefore, the claim is proved.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.