Let be any function that maps the set of real numbers into the set of real numbers. Prove that there exist real numbers and such that
Solutions — 2
Solution 1
Assume that
Let . Setting in (1) gives for all real and, equivalently,
Setting in (1) yields in view of (2)
This implies and thus
From (2) and (3) we obtain for all , so
Now we show that
Assume the contrary, i.e. there is some such that . Take any such that
Then in view of (2)
and with (1) and (4) we obtain
whence
contrary to our choice of . Thereby, we have established (5).
Setting in (5) leads to and (2) then yields
Now choose such that and and set . From (1), (5) and
(6) we obtain
i.e. , a contradiction to the choice of .
Solution 2
Assume that
Let . Setting in (7) gives for all real and, equivalently,
Now we show that
Let be fixed, set and assume that . Setting and in (7) gives
Applying (10) to , where , leads to
From (8) we obtain
and, thus, we have for all positive integers
With we get
In view of the assumption we find some such that
because the right hand side tends to as . Now (12) and (13) give the desired contradiction and (9) is established. In addition, we have for the strict inequality
Indeed, assume that . Then setting and in (11) leads to
which is false if is sufficiently large.
To complete the proof we set . Setting and in (7) gives
On the other hand, by (8) and the choice of we have and hence . The inequality (9) yields
which contradicts (15).