Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /46 of 87

Algebra Difficulty 6.4 National Olympiad Prove it Serbia

Problem:

Determine all functions f:RRf: \mathbb{R} \rightarrow \mathbb{R} such that for all x,yRx, y \in \mathbb{R} it holds that
f(xf(y)yf(x))=f(xy)xy. f(x f(y)-y f(x))=f(x y)-x y .

Solution

Solution:

Substituting y=0y=0 gives f(xf(0))=f(0)f(x f(0))=f(0). If f(0)0f(0) \neq 0, the expression xf(0)x f(0) takes all real values, so ff is a constant function, but that does not satisfy the conditions. Therefore, f(0)=0f(0)=0.

Setting y=xy=x we obtain f(0)=f(x2)x2f(0)=f\left(x^{2}\right)-x^{2}, i.e., f(x2)=x2f\left(x^{2}\right)=x^{2}. Thus, f(x)=xf(x)=x for all x0x \geqslant 0.

Now let us substitute arbitrary x,y<0x, y<0. Since then f(xy)=xyf(x y)=x y, we have f(xf(y)yf(x))=0f(x f(y)-y f(x))=0, which can hold only for xf(y)yf(x)0x f(y)-y f(x) \leqslant 0. Analogously, yf(x)xf(y)0y f(x)-x f(y) \leqslant 0 as well, so yf(x)=xf(y)y f(x)=x f(y), i.e., f(x)/x=f(y)/yf(x) / x=f(y) / y. It follows that f(x)=cxf(x)=c x for all x<0x<0, where cc is some constant.

Now for x<0<yx<0<y we obtain f((1c)xy)=f(xy)xy=(c1)xyf((1-c) x y)=f(x y)-x y=(c-1) x y, i.e., f(z)=zf(z)=-z for z=(1c)xyz=(1-c) x y. If c=1c=1, then f(x)xf(x) \equiv x, which is obviously a solution. On the other hand, for c1c \neq 1 we have z0z \neq 0 and hence f(z){cz,z}f(z) \in\{c z, z\}, so it must then be that c=1c=-1, which gives the function f(x)=xf(x)=|x| for all xx. This function is also a solution: we have already checked all cases except x>0>yx>0>y, and for x>0>yx>0>y we have 2xy=f(2xy)=f(xf(y)yf(x))=f(xy)xy=2xy-2 x y=f(-2 x y)=f(x f(y)-y f(x))=f(x y)-x y=-2 x y.

Therefore, the solutions are the functions f(x)=xf(x)=x and f(x)=xf(x)=|x|.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement translated into English from sr; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.