Find all functions , where is the set of all positive integers, such that for any positive integers , .
Solution
We claim that the only solutions are:
1. . This works because
and
2. . This works because
We now show these are the only solutions. Note that
Hence, by induction,
This means that for all positive integers , else by choosing a sufficiently large , will be negative. If there exists some positive integer such that , then
Else, assume , so that for all positive integers . Pick such that is minimal. For any positive integer , consider the numbers . This sequence of numbers is strictly increasing, with consecutive differences at least . Hence,
Thus, equality must hold everywhere, and in particular for all positive integers , as desired.
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