Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 8.1 Shortlist Prove it Germany

Problem:

Let ff and gg be two real functions, defined for every real number. Furthermore, the following equation is to hold for all real numbers xx and yy:
g(f(x+y))=f(x)+(2x+y)g(y) g(f(x+y))=f(x)+(2 x+y) g(y)
Determine all possible pairs (f,g)(f, g).

Solution

Solution:

From the given equation (1) we obtain, for y=2xy=-2x: g(f(x))=f(x)g(f(-x))=f(x) (2). Thus (1) becomes f(xy)=f(x)+(2x+y)g(y)f(-x-y)=f(x)+(2x+y)g(y) (3), and with x=0x=0 this becomes f(y)=f(0)+yg(y)f(-y)=f(0)+y g(y) (4).

Replacing ff in (3) according to (4) yields, after subtracting f(0)f(0):
(x+y)g(x+y)=(2x+y)g(y)xg(x)(x+y)g(x+y) = (2x+y)g(y) - xg(-x)
(5).

With y=0y=0 this gives, for x0x \neq 0: g(x)+g(x)=2g(0)g(x)+g(-x)=2g(0) (6), which however also holds for x=0x=0, hence for all xRx \in \mathbb{R}.

We set h(x):=g(x)g(0)h(x):=g(x)-g(0). Then h(0)=0h(0)=0 holds, as well as, by (6): h(x)=h(x)h(-x)=-h(x) (6*), and, using (5) and (6*):
(x+y)h(x+y)=(2x+y)h(y)+xh(x)(x+y)h(x+y) = (2x+y)h(y) + x h(x)
(7).

Interchanging xx and yy in (7) and equating the results yields xh(y)=yh(x)x h(y) = y h(x) (8). For x,y0x, y \neq 0 it follows that h(x)/x=h(y)/y=consth(x)/x = h(y)/y = \text{const}. Hence h(x)=cxh(x) = c \cdot x, which obviously also holds for x=0x=0. With g(0)=bg(0)=b we obtain g(x)=cx+bg(x)=c x + b for all xRx \in \mathbb{R}.

With f(0)=af(0)=a it follows from (4) that f(x)=abx+cx2f(x) = a - b x + c x^2. (2) yields c(cx2+bx+a)+b=cx2bx+ac(c x^2 + b x + a) + b = c x^2 - b x + a, and comparing coefficients we must have c2=cc^2 = c, bc=bb c = -b as well as ac+b=aa c + b = a.

Case 1: c=0c=0. This gives b=a=0b=a=0 and f(x)=0f(x)=0, g(x)=0g(x)=0, so that (1) is satisfied.

Case 2: c=1c=1. Then b=bb=-b, so b=0b=0, and aa is arbitrary. This gives f(x)=x2+af(x)=x^2 + a, g(x)=xg(x)=x. For this pair of functions too, substituting into (1) yields a true statement. Hence the two solution pairs (f,g)=(0,0)(f, g) = (0, 0) and (f,g)=(x2+a,x)(f, g) = (x^2 + a, x) with aRa \in \mathbb{R} exist.

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