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Algebra Difficulty 7.8 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Middle European Mathematical Olympiad (MEMO)

Problem:

Determine all functions f:RRf: \mathbb{R} \rightarrow \mathbb{R} such that
f(xf(y)+2y)=f(xy)+xf(y)+f(f(y)) f(x f(y)+2 y)=f(x y)+x f(y)+f(f(y))
holds for all real numbers xx and yy.

Solution

Solution:

The functional equation has two solutions, f(x)0f(x) \equiv 0 and f(x)2xf(x) \equiv 2 x.

Setting x=0x=0 and y=0y=0 in the functional equation yields f(f(0))=0f(f(0))=0. So there is at least one zero point of ff. Let aa be any of them. Setting y=ay=a gives us f(2a)=f(ax)+f(0)f(2 a)=f(a x)+f(0). If a0a \neq 0, then ff is a constant function and we know that f(a)=0f(a)=0, so it is a zero function, which is indeed a solution.

It remains to investigate the case where 00 is the only zero point of ff, i.e. f(a)=0f(a)=0 if and only if a=0a=0. Furthermore, taking x=0x=0 in the functional equation we obtain
f(2y)=f(f(y)) f(2 y)=f(f(y))
If we prove an injectivity of ff, the previous identity yields f(y)=2yf(y)=2 y, what is the second solution, as we can easily check.

Now we prove the injectivity of ff. Firstly, let us examine the set of the fixed points of ff. This set is non-empty because 00 is one of its points. Assume that pp is any of the fixed points, i.e. f(p)=pf(p)=p. Setting x=1,y=px=-1, y=p in the functional equation gives
p=f(f(p)+2p)=f(p)f(p)+f(f(p))=f(p) p=f(-f(p)+2 p)=f(-p)-f(p)+f(f(p))=f(-p)
Now we set x=1,y=px=1, y=-p in the functional equation and we obtain using proved f(p)=pf(-p)=p
p=f(f(p)2p)=f(p)+f(p)+f(f(p))=3p p=f(f(-p)-2 p)=f(-p)+f(-p)+f(f(-p))=3 p
This yields that p=0p=0 is the only fixed point of ff.

Secondly, we choose xx so that xf(y)+2y=xyx f(y)+2 y=x y, which yields x=2y/(yf(y))x=2 y /(y-f(y)). This can be done for each y0y \neq 0, since 00 is the only fixed point of ff. This substitution gives us
f(f(y))=2yf(y)f(y)y=2f2(y)f(y)y2f(y) f(f(y))=\frac{2 y f(y)}{f(y)-y}=\frac{2 f^{2}(y)}{f(y)-y}-2 f(y)
In order to finish the proof of injectivity let us assume that non-zero real numbers a,ba, b satisfy f(a)=f(b)f(a)=f(b). We have already proved that f(a)=f(b)0f(a)=f(b) \neq 0. The previous identity yields
2f2(a)f(a)a2f(a)=f(f(a))=f(f(b))=2f2(b)f(b)b2f(b) \frac{2 f^{2}(a)}{f(a)-a}-2 f(a)=f(f(a))=f(f(b))=\frac{2 f^{2}(b)}{f(b)-b}-2 f(b)
and it follows that a=ba=b. The proof of the injectivity is thereby finished.

We set x=1,y=0x=1, y=0 in the original equation and we obtain
f(f(0))=f(0)+f(0)+f(f(0)) f(f(0))=f(0)+f(0)+f(f(0))
which implies f(0)=0f(0)=0. This identity yields after setting x=0x=0 in the original equation
f(2y)=f(f(y)) f(2 y)=f(f(y))
Let us assume that there exists t00t_{0} \neq 0 such that f(t0)=0f\left(t_{0}\right)=0. For every real number tt we obtain by substitution x=t/t0,y=t0x=t / t_{0}, y=t_{0} in the original equation
f(2t0)=f(t)+tt0f(t0)+f(f(y))=f(t)+f(f(t0)) f\left(2 t_{0}\right)=f(t)+\frac{t}{t_{0}} \cdot f\left(t_{0}\right)+f(f(y))=f(t)+f\left(f\left(t_{0}\right)\right)
This equation with (2) gives us f(t)=0f(t)=0 for each real number tt, which is one of the solutions, as we can easily check.

Now we can assume that f(y)0f(y) \neq 0 for every real number y0y \neq 0. For each real number tt and y0y \neq 0 we obtain by putting x=2t/f(y)x=2 t / f(y) in the original equation
f(2t+2y)=f(2tyf(y))+2t+f(f(y)) f(2 t+2 y)=f\left(\frac{2 t y}{f(y)}\right)+2 t+f(f(y))
We prove that the function ff is injective. If a,ba, b are numbers from R\{0}\mathbb{R} \backslash\{0\} such that f(a)=f(b)(0)f(a)=f(b)(\neq 0) then the substitutions t=a,y=bt=a, y=b or t=b,y=at=b, y=a in the previous equation gives
f(2a+2b)=f(2abf(b))+2a+f(f(b))f(2b+2a)=f(2baf(a))+2b+f(f(a)) \begin{aligned} f(2 a+2 b) & =f\left(\frac{2 a b}{f(b)}\right)+2 a+f(f(b)) \\ f(2 b+2 a) & =f\left(\frac{2 b a}{f(a)}\right)+2 b+f(f(a)) \end{aligned}
This two equations directly yields to a=ba=b, which proves the injectivity.

The injectivity of the function ff together with (2) lead to f(y)=2yf(y)=2 y what is the second solution, as we can check.

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