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Algebra Difficulty 6.1 National Olympiad Prove it Ireland

Find all pairs of functions f,g:QQf, g : \mathbb{Q} \to \mathbb{Q} that satisfy the identity
f(x+y)=f(x)g(1)+g(y),x,yQ f(x+y) = f(x)g(1) + g(y), \quad \forall x, y \in \mathbb{Q}
and the equation f(1)=3f(1) = 3.

Solution

We will show that there are exactly two solutions to this functional equation. First, take x=0x = 0 to get
f(y)=f(0)g(1)+g(y), f(y) = f(0)g(1) + g(y),
so g=f+Cg = f + C for some constant CC. Since f(1)=3f(1) = 3, we deduce that
f(x+y)=(3+C)f(x)+f(y)+C,x,yQ.(15) f(x+y) = (3+C)f(x) + f(y) + C, \quad x,y \in \mathbb{Q}. \qquad (15)
The equations x+y+t=x+(y+t)=(x+t)+yx + y + t = x + (y + t) = (x + t) + y imply that
f(x+y+t)=(3+C)f(x)+f(y+t)+C=(3+C)f(x+t)+f(y)+C. f(x + y + t) = (3 + C)f(x) + f(y + t) + C = (3 + C)f(x + t) + f(y) + C.
Taking y=xy = x, the last equation yields
(2+C)f(x)=(2+C)f(x+t),x,tQ. (2 + C)f(x) = (2 + C)f(x + t), \quad x, t \in \mathbb{Q}.
It follows that either ff is constant (and equal to 33) or C=2C = -2. If f3f \equiv 3, then (15) implies that 3=(3+C)43 = (3+C)4, and so C=9/4C = -9/4. This gives a constant solution, (f,g)(3,3/4)(f,g) \equiv (3, 3/4), to our problem.

It remains to consider the case C=2C = -2, and so (15) gives
f(x+y)=f(x)+f(y)2,x,yQ. f(x + y) = f(x) + f(y) - 2, \quad x, y \in \mathbb{Q}.
Writing h:=f2h := f - 2, we get
h(x+y)=h(x)+h(y),x,yQ.(16) h(x + y) = h(x) + h(y), \quad x, y \in \mathbb{Q}. \qquad (16)
If we take y=0y = 0 in (16), we get h(0)=0h(0) = 0. If instead we take x=yx = -y in (16), we get h(x)=h(x)h(x) = -h(x). By repeatedly applying (16) to h(mx)h(mx), we get the identity h(mx)=mh(x)h(mx) = mh(x) for all mNm \in \mathbb{N}. By virtue of the identities h(0)=0h(0) = 0 and h(x)=xh(-x) = x, we can extend to mZm \in \mathbb{Z}:
h(mx)=mh(x),xQ,mZ.(17) h(mx) = mh(x), \quad x \in \mathbb{Q}, m \in \mathbb{Z}. \qquad (17)
Applying (17) with mx/nmx/n in place of xx and nn in place of mm, we see that h(mx)=mh(mx/n)h(mx) = mh(mx/n) and so mh(x)=mh(mx/n)mh(x) = mh(mx/n). We have shown that
h(rx)=rh(x),xQ,rQ. h(rx) = rh(x), \quad x \in \mathbb{Q}, r \in \mathbb{Q}.
Rewriting this in terms of ff for x=1x = 1, we get the identity f(r)r+2f(r) \equiv r + 2, and so g(r)rg(r) \equiv r. This is the second solution to the functional equation.

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