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Algebra Difficulty 8.0 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Iran

Find all functions f:R+×R+R+f : \mathbb{R}^{+} \times \mathbb{R}^{+} \rightarrow \mathbb{R}^{+} that satisfy the following conditions for all positive real numbers x,y,zx, y, z
f(f(x,y),z)=x2y2f(x,z),f(x,1+f(x,y))x2+xyf(x,x).(p.57) \begin{gathered} f(f(x, y), z) = x^2 y^2 f(x, z), \\ f(x, 1 + f(x, y)) \geq x^2 + xyf(x, x). \end{gathered} \qquad (\rightarrow \text{p.57})

Solution

* The function g(x)=f(x,1)g(x) = f(x, 1) is bijective.
Assume that a,ba, b are two positive numbers with f(a,1)=f(b,1)f(a, 1) = f(b, 1).
By comparing P(a,1,1)P(a, 1, 1), P(b,1,1)P(b, 1, 1) we obtain
a2f(a,1)=f(f(a,1),1)=f(f(b,1),1)=b2f(b,1)    a=b. a^2 f(a, 1) = f(f(a, 1), 1) = f(f(b, 1), 1) = b^2 f(b, 1) \implies a = b.
So f(a,1)f(a, 1) is injective. Also
P(1,y,1):f(f(1,y),1)=y2f(1,1). P(1, y, 1) : f(f(1, y), 1) = y^2 f(1, 1).
The RHS of the above equation can be any positive real number, so f(a,1)f(a, 1) is surjective.
* The function h(x)=f(1,x)h(x) = f(1, x) is bijective.
Note that for any positive real number tt, we have
P(1,f(t,1)f(1,1)y,1):f(f(1,y),1)=f(t,1). P\left(1, \underbrace{\sqrt{\frac{f(t, 1)}{f(1, 1)}}}_{y}, 1\right) : f(f(1, y), 1) = f(t, 1).
According to the previous claim, we must have h(y)=f(1,y)=th(y) = f(1, y) = t so h(x)h(x) is surjective. Now
P(1,1,1):f(f(1,1),1)=f(1,1)    f(1,1)=1. P(1, 1, 1) : f(f(1, 1), 1) = f(1, 1) \implies f(1, 1) = 1.
Now if for some positive numbers a,ba, b we have f(1,a)=f(1,b)f(1, a) = f(1, b), by comparing P(1,a,1)P(1, a, 1), P(1,b,1)P(1, b, 1) we obtain
a2=f(f(1,a),1)=f(f(1,b),1)=b2    a=b. a^2 = f(f(1, a), 1) = f(f(1, b), 1) = b^2 \implies a = b.
So h(x)h(x) is injective.
We have
P(1,y,z):f(f(1,y),z)=y2f(1,z), P(1, y, z) : f(f(1, y), z) = y^2 f(1, z),
And also had
P(1,y,1):f(f(1,y),1)=y2. P(1, y, 1) : f(f(1, y), 1) = y^2.
So we obtain
f(h(y),z)=f(f(1,y),z)=y2f(1,z)=g(h(y))h(z). f(h(y), z) = f(f(1, y), z) = y^2 f(1, z) = g(h(y)) h(z).
a,zR+:f(a,z)=g(a)h(z). \forall a, z \in \mathbb{R}^{+} : f(a, z) = g(a)h(z).
Now using the above equation, we rewrite the first assertion P(x,y,z)P(x, y, z) and get
g(g(x)h(y))=x2y2g(x),g(1)=h(1)=1 g(g(x)h(y)) = x^2y^2g(x), \quad g(1) = h(1) = 1
Now set y=1y = 1 to get g(g(x))=x2g(x)g(g(x)) = x^2g(x), also we had g(h(y))=y2g(h(y)) = y^2, so we can rewrite the above equation as
g(g(x)h(y))=g(g(x))g(h(y))    g,hare surjectivex,yR+:g(xy)=g(x)g(y). g(g(x)h(y)) = g(g(x))g(h(y)) \quad \underset{\text{are surjective}}{\overset{g,h}{\implies}} \quad \forall x, y \in \mathbb{R}^{+} : g(xy) = g(x)g(y).
We can also get
g(h(y))=y2g(h(xy))=x2y2=g(h(x))g(h(y))=g(h(x)h(y)),gis injectiveh(xy)=h(x)h(y).g(g(x))=x2g(x)g(g(h(x)))=h(x)2g(h(x))),g(x2)=x2h(x2)=x2h(x2),xR+:g(x)=xh(x),h(y)h(h(y))=y2. \begin{array}{rcl} g(h(y)) = y^2 & \Longrightarrow & g(h(xy)) = x^2 y^2 = g(h(x))g(h(y)) = g(h(x)h(y)), \\ & \underset{\text{is injective}}{\stackrel{g}{\Longrightarrow}} & h(xy) = h(x)h(y). \\[1.5ex] g(g(x)) = x^2 g(x) & \Longrightarrow & g(g(h(x))) = h(x)^2 g(h(x))), \\ & \Longrightarrow & g(x^2) = x^2 h(x^2) = x^2 h(x^2), \\ & \Longrightarrow & \forall x \in \mathbb{R}^+ : g(x) = xh(x), \\ & \Longrightarrow & h(y)h(h(y)) = y^2. \end{array}
Now rewrite Q(x,y)Q(x, y)
h(x+x2h(xy))x+xyh(x)2. h(x + x^2h(xy)) \geq x + xyh(x)^2.
Set yyxy \to \frac{y}{x} to get
h(x+x2h(y))x+yh(x)2    h(1+xh(y))xh(x)+yh(x). h(x + x^2h(y)) \geq x + yh(x)^2 \implies h(1 + xh(y)) \geq \frac{x}{h(x)} + yh(x).
Note that h(1)=h(x)h(1x)h(1) = h(x)h(\frac{1}{x}), so h(1x)=1h(x)h(\frac{1}{x}) = \frac{1}{h(x)}. Set x=1h(y)x = \frac{1}{h(y)} above to get
h(2)h(h(y))h(y)+yh(h(y))2yh(y)    cR+:h(y)cy. h(2) \geq \frac{h(h(y))}{h(y)} + \frac{y}{h(h(y))} \geq 2\sqrt{\frac{y}{h(y)}} \implies \exists c \in \mathbb{R}^{+} : h(y) \geq cy.
Also since h(xy)=h(x)h(y)h(xy) = h(x)h(y), we obtain h(xn)=h(x)nh(x^n) = h(x)^n, for all positive integers nn. Therefore
h(y)n=h(yn)cyn    h(y)cynnh(y)y    y2=h(y)h(h(y))y2    h(y)=y    g(x)=x2    f(x,y)=g(x)h(y)=x2y \begin{align*} h(y)^n &= h(y^n) \ge cy^n \implies h(y) \ge \sqrt[n]{cy} \stackrel{n \to \infty}{\Longrightarrow} h(y) \ge y \\ \implies y^2 &= h(y)h(h(y)) \ge y^2 \implies h(y) = y \implies g(x) = x^2 \\ \implies f(x,y) &= g(x)h(y) = x^2y \end{align*}
So f(x,y)=x2yf(x, y) = x^2y is the only answer of the problem which is indeed a
solution. ■

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