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Let R>0\mathbb{R}_{>0} be the set of positive real numbers. Determine all functions f:R>0R>0f : \mathbb{R}_{>0} \to \mathbb{R}_{>0} such that
x(f(x)+f(y))(f(f(x))+y)f(y) x(f(x) + f(y)) \geq (f(f(x)) + y)f(y)
for every x,yR>0x, y \in \mathbb{R}_{>0}.

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

All functions f(x)=cxf(x) = \frac{c}{x} for some c>0c > 0.

Let f:R>0R>0f : \mathbb{R}_{>0} \to \mathbb{R}_{>0} be a function that satisfies the inequality of the problem statement. We will write fk(x)=f(f(f(x)))f^k(x) = f(f(\cdots f(x)\cdots)) for the composition of ff with itself kk times, with the convention that f0(x)=xf^0(x) = x. Substituting y=xy = x gives
xf2(x). x \geq f^2(x).
Substituting x=f(y)x = f(y) instead leads to f(y)+f2(y)y+f3(y)f(y) + f^2(y) \geq y + f^3(y), or equivalently
f(y)f3(y)yf2(y). f(y) - f^3(y) \geq y - f^2(y).
We can generalize this inequality. If we replace yy by fn1(y)f^{n-1}(y) in the above inequality, we get
fn(y)fn+2(y)fn1(y)fn+1(y), f^n(y) - f^{n+2}(y) \geq f^{n-1}(y) - f^{n+1}(y),
for every yR>0y \in \mathbb{R}_{>0} and for every integer n1n \geq 1. In particular, fn(y)fn+2(y)yf2(y)0f^n(y) - f^{n+2}(y) \geq y - f^2(y) \geq 0 for every n1n \geq 1. Hereafter consider even integers n=2mn = 2m. Observe that
yf2m(y)=i=0m1f2i(y)f2i+2(y)m(yf2(y)). y - f^{2m}(y) = \sum_{i=0}^{m-1} f^{2i}(y) - f^{2i+2}(y) \geq m(y - f^2(y)).
Since ff takes positive values, it holds that yf2m(y)<yy - f^{2m}(y) < y for every m1m \geq 1. So, we have proved that y>m(yf2(y))y > m(y - f^2(y)) for every yR>0y \in \mathbb{R}_{>0} and every m1m \geq 1. Since yf2(y)0y - f^2(y) \geq 0, this holds if and only if
f2(y)=y f^2(y) = y
for every yR>0y \in \mathbb{R}_{>0}. The original inequality becomes
xf(x)yf(y) x f(x) \geq y f(y)
for every x,yR>0x, y \in \mathbb{R}_{>0}. Hence, xf(x)x f(x) is a constant. We conclude that f(x)=cxf(x) = \frac{c}{x} for some c>0c > 0.

Solution 2

Let f:R>0R>0f : \mathbb{R}_{>0} \to \mathbb{R}_{>0} be a function that satisfies the inequality of the problem statement. As in Solution 1, we prove that
fn(y)fn+2(y) f^n(y) \ge f^{n+2}(y)
for every yR>0y \in \mathbb{R}_{>0} and every n0n \ge 0. Since ff takes positive values, this implies that
yf(y)f(y)f2(y)f2(y)f3(y) y f(y) \ge f(y) f^2(y) \ge f^2(y) f^3(y) \ge \dots
In other words, yf(y)fn(y)fn+1(y)y f(y) \ge f^n(y) f^{n+1}(y) for every yR>0y \in \mathbb{R}_{>0} and every n1n \ge 1.
We replace xx by fn(x)f^n(x) in the original inequality and get
fn(x)fn+2(x)yf(y)fn(x)fn+1(x)f(y). f^n(x) - f^{n+2}(x) \ge \frac{y f(y) - f^n(x) f^{n+1}(x)}{f(y)}.
Using that xf(x)fn(x)fn+1(x)x f(x) \ge f^n(x) f^{n+1}(x), we obtain
fn(x)fn+2(x)yf(y)xf(x)f(y) f^n(x) - f^{n+2}(x) \ge \frac{y f(y) - x f(x)}{f(y)}
for every n0n \ge 0. The same trick as in Solution 1 gives
x>xf2m(x)=i=0m1f2i(x)f2i+2(x)myf(y)xf(x)f(y) x > x - f^{2m}(x) = \sum_{i=0}^{m-1} f^{2i}(x) - f^{2i+2}(x) \ge m \cdot \frac{y f(y) - x f(x)}{f(y)}
for every x,yR>0x, y \in \mathbb{R}_{>0} and every m1m \ge 1. Possibly permuting xx and yy, we may assume that yf(y)xf(x)0y f(y) - x f(x) \ge 0 then the above inequality implies x,f(x)=yf(y)x, f(x) = y f(y). We conclude as in Solution 1. \square

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