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Algebra Difficulty 5.7 AIME, harder Prove it Singapore

Find all functions f:Z+Z+f: \mathbb{Z}^+ \to \mathbb{Z}^+ such that f(k+1)>f(f(k))f(k+1) > f(f(k)) for all k1k \ge 1, where Z+\mathbb{Z}^+ is the set of positive integers.

Solution

We shall show that f(k)=kf(k) = k for all kk. It suffices to show that ff is a strictly increasing function for if ff is a strictly increasing function, then for an arbitrary kk,
f(k+1)>f(f(k))k+1>f(k)f(k)=k. f(k+1) > f(f(k)) \Rightarrow k+1 > f(k) \Rightarrow f(k) = k.
Consider the set of integers {f(1),f(2),}\{f(1), f(2), \dots\}. By the given condition, each member f(k+1),k1f(k+1), k \ge 1 is bigger than another member f(f(k))f(f(k)), with f(1)f(1) as the only exception. Therefore f(1)f(1) is the smallest element of the set.
This argument can be extended. Let g(k)=f(k)1g(k) = f(k) - 1, for k2k \ge 2. Then {g(2),g(3),}\{g(2), g(3), \dots\} is a set of positive integers. For k2k \ge 2, g(k+1)=f(k+1)1>f(f(k))1=g(f(k))=g(g(k)+1)g(k+1) = f(k+1) - 1 > f(f(k)) - 1 = g(f(k)) = g(g(k) + 1). This means g(2)g(2) is the smallest element of the set. Therefore f(1)<f(2)<f(k)f(1) < f(2) < f(k) for all k3k \ge 3. Continuing this way, we see that f(1)<f(2)<f(3)<f(1) < f(2) < f(3) < \dots, i.e., the function ff is strictly increasing.

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