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Algebra Difficulty 9.1 IMO level Prove it Germany

Problem:

Let the set of positive integers be denoted by N\mathbb{N}. Determine all functions f:NNf: \mathbb{N} \rightarrow \mathbb{N} with the following property: For all positive integers mm and nn, the number f(m)+f(n)mnf(m)+f(n)-m n is different from 0 and is a divisor of the number mf(m)+nf(n)m f(m)+n f(n).

Solution

Solution:

Answer: There is exactly one function satisfying the described condition, namely f(k)=k2f(k)=k^{2} for all kk.

For the proof, let ff be as required.

Step 1: Substituting m=n=1m=n=1 gives 2f(1)12f(1)2 f(1)-1 \mid 2 f(1), hence also 2f(1)12f(1)(2f(1)1)=12 f(1)-1 \mid 2 f(1)-(2 f(1)-1)=1 and therefore 2f(1)1=12 f(1)-1=1, so f(1)=1f(1)=1.

Step 2: From now on pp will always stand for a prime number with p7p \geq 7. Substituting m=n=pm=n=p gives 2f(p)p22pf(p)2 f(p)-p^{2} \mid 2 p f(p) and hence also 2f(p)p22pf(p)p(2f(p)p2)=p32 f(p)-p^{2} \mid 2 p f(p)-p\left(2 f(p)-p^{2}\right)=p^{3}, so
2f(p)p2{p3,p2,p,1,1,p,p2,p3} 2 f(p)-p^{2} \in\left\{-p^{3},-p^{2},-p,-1,1, p, p^{2}, p^{3}\right\}
Since f(p)>0f(p)>0 it follows that
f(p){p2p2,p212,p2+12,p2+p2,p2,p3+p22}. f(p) \in\left\{\frac{p^{2}-p}{2}, \frac{p^{2}-1}{2}, \frac{p^{2}+1}{2}, \frac{p^{2}+p}{2}, p^{2}, \frac{p^{3}+p^{2}}{2}\right\} .

Step 3: We set m=1,n=pm=1, n=p and obtain f(p)+1ppf(p)+1f(p)+1-p \mid p f(p)+1, hence also f(p)+1ppf(p)+1p(f(p)+1p)=p2p+1f(p)+1-p \mid p f(p)+1-p(f(p)+1-p)=p^{2}-p+1. Assume that f(p)p2f(p) \neq p^{2}. Then it necessarily follows (note that p2p+1p^{2}-p+1 is odd) that f(p)+1p1/3(p2p+1)f(p)+1-p \leq 1 / 3\left(p^{2}-p+1\right). However, by Step 2 we have f(p)(p2p)/2f(p) \geq\left(p^{2}-p\right) / 2, so it follows that
p2p2+1pp2p+133p23p+66p2p22p+1p2+57p \begin{aligned} \frac{p^{2}-p}{2}+1-p & \leq \frac{p^{2}-p+1}{3} \\ 3 p^{2}-3 p+6-6 p & \leq 2 p^{2}-2 p+1 \\ p^{2}+5 & \leq 7 p \end{aligned}
which does not hold for p7p \geq 7. Hence the above assumption was false and we must have f(p)=p2f(p)=p^{2}.

Step 4: Let nNn \in \mathbb{N} be arbitrary. We set m=pm=p and obtain f(n)+p2pnp3+nf(n)f(n)+p^{2}-p n \mid p^{3}+n f(n), hence also f(n)+p2pnp3+nf(n)n(f(n)p2pn)=p(p2pn+n2)f(n)+p^{2}-p n \mid p^{3}+n f(n)-n\left(f(n)-p^{2}-p n\right)=p\left(p^{2}-p n+n^{2}\right). For all sufficiently large primes pp, f(n)f(n), and hence also the left-hand side of the last expression, is not divisible by pp, therefore it follows that f(n)+p2pnp2pn+n2f(n)+p^{2}-p n \mid p^{2}-p n+n^{2} and thus also f(n)+p2pn(f(n)+p2pn)(p2pn+n2)=f(n)n2f(n)+p^{2}-p n \mid\left(f(n)+p^{2}-p n\right)-\left(p^{2}-p n+n^{2}\right)=f(n)-n^{2}. Since the left-hand side can become arbitrarily large (there are infinitely many primes), it follows that f(n)n2=0f(n)-n^{2}=0 and hence f(n)=n2f(n)=n^{2}.

Step 5: Checking confirms that f(k)=k2f(k)=k^{2} for all kNk \in \mathbb{N} indeed satisfies the condition: We have f(m)+f(n)mn=m2+n2mn2mnmn=mn>0f(m)+f(n)-m n=m^{2}+n^{2}-m n \geq 2 m n-m n=m n>0, and moreover (m2+n2mn)(m+n)=m3+n3=mf(m)+nf(n)\left(m^{2}+n^{2}-m n\right)(m+n)=m^{3}+n^{3}=m f(m)+n f(n), that is, f(m)+f(n)mnf(m)+f(n)-m n is different from 0 and is a divisor of the number mf(m)+nf(n)m f(m)+n f(n).

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