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Algebra Difficulty 7.5 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it United States

Find all binary operations \diamond: R>0×R>0R>0\mathbb{R}_{>0} \times \mathbb{R}_{>0} \to \mathbb{R}_{>0} (meaning \diamond takes pairs of positive real numbers to positive real numbers) such that for any real numbers a,b,c>0a, b, c > 0,
* the equation a(bc)=(ab)ca \diamond (b \diamond c) = (a \diamond b) \cdot c holds; and
* if a1a \ge 1 then aa1a \diamond a \ge 1.

Solution

First solution using Cauchy FE We prove:
Claim — We have ab=af(b)a \diamond b = af(b) where ff is some involutive and totally multiplicative function. (In fact, this classifies all functions satisfying the first condition completely.)
Proof. Let P(a,b,c)P(a, b, c) denote the assertion a(bc)=(ab)ca \diamond (b \diamond c) = (a \diamond b) \cdot c.
* Note that for any xx, the function yxyy \mapsto x \diamond y is injective, because if xy1=xy2x \diamond y_1 = x \diamond y_2 then take P(1,x,yi)P(1, x, y_i) to get y1=y2y_1 = y_2.
* Take P(1,x,1)P(1, x, 1) and injectivity to get x1=xx \diamond 1 = x.
* Take P(1,1,y)P(1, 1, y) to get 1(1y)=y1 \diamond (1 \diamond y) = y.
* Take P(x,1,1y)P(x, 1, 1 \diamond y) to get
xy=x(1y). x \diamond y = x \cdot (1 \diamond y).
Henceforth let us define f(y)=1yf(y) = 1 \diamond y, so f(1)=1f(1) = 1, ff is involutive and
xy=xf(y). x \diamond y = xf(y).
Plugging this into the original condition now gives f(bf(c))=f(b)cf(bf(c)) = f(b)c, which (since ff is an involution) gives ff completely multiplicative. \square
In particular, f(1)=1f(1) = 1. We are now interested only in the second condition, which reads f(x)1/xf(x) \ge 1/x for x1x \ge 1.
Define the function
g(t)=logf(et) g(t) = \log f(e^t)
so that gg is additive, and also g(t)tg(t) \ge -t for all t0t \ge 0. We appeal to the following theorem:
Lemma
If h:RRh: \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R} is an additive function which is not linear, then it is dense in the plane: for any point (x0,y0)(x_0, y_0) and ε>0\varepsilon > 0 there exists (x,y)(x, y) such that h(x)=yh(x) = y and (xx0)2+(yy0)2<ε\sqrt{(x - x_0)^2 + (y - y_0)^2} < \varepsilon.
Applying this lemma with the fact that g(t)tg(t) \ge -t implies readily that gg is linear. In other words, ff is of the form f(x)=xrf(x) = x^r for some fixed real number rr. It is easy to check r=±1r = \pm 1 which finishes.

Second solution manually As before we arrive at ab=af(b)a \diamond b = af(b), with ff an involutive and totally multiplicative function.
We prove that:
Claim — For any a>0a > 0, we have f(a){1/a,a}f(a) \in \{1/a, a\}.
Proof. WLOG b>1b > 1, and suppose f(b)=a1/bf(b) = a \ge 1/b hence f(a)=bf(a) = b.
Assume that ab>1ab > 1; we show a=ba = b. Note that for integers mm and nn with ambn1a^m b^n \ge 1, we must have
ambn=f(b)mf(a)n=f(ambn)1ambn    (ab)m+n1 a^m b^n = f(b)^m f(a)^n = f(a^m b^n) \ge \frac{1}{a^m b^n} \implies (ab)^{m+n} \ge 1
and thus we have arrived at the proposition
m+n<0    nlogba+m<0 m + n < 0 \implies n \log_b a + m < 0
for all integers mm and nn. Due to the density of Q\mathbb{Q} in the real numbers, this can only happen if logba=1\log_b a = 1 or a=ba = b. \square
Claim — The function ff is continuous.
Proof. Indeed, it's equivalent to show g(t)=logf(et)g(t) = \log f(e^t) is continuous, and we have that
g(t)g(s)=logf(ets)=ts |g(t) - g(s)| = |\log f(e^{t-s})| = |t - s|
since f(ets)=e±tsf(e^{t-s}) = e^{\pm|t-s|}. Therefore gg is Lipschitz. Hence gg continuous, and ff is too. \square
Finally, we have from ff multiplicative that
f(2q)=f(2)q f(2^q) = f(2)^q
for every rational number qq, say. As ff is continuous this implies f(x)xf(x) \equiv x or f(x)1/xf(x) \equiv 1/x identically (depending on whether f(2)=2f(2) = 2 or f(2)=1/2f(2) = 1/2, respectively).
Therefore, ab=aba \diamond b = ab or ab=a÷ba \diamond b = a \div b, as needed.

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