Let α∈Q+. Determine all functions f:Q+→Q+ such that f(yx+y)=f(y)f(x)+αx holds for all x,y∈Q+. Here, Q+ denotes the set of positive rational numbers.
Solution
Setting y=x and y=1 yields f(x+1)=1+f(x)+αx(1) and f(x+1)=f(1)f(x)+f(1)+αx(2) respectively. Equating (1) and (2) implies f(x)(1−f(1)1)=f(1)−1. As f cannot be constant due to (1), we obtain f(1)=1. By induction, we get f(x)=2αx(x−1)+xfor all x∈Z+.(3) In particular, this implies f(2)=α+2 and f(4)=6α+4. Setting x=4 and y=2 in the functional equation yields α2−2α=0. Thus we must have α=2 in order to obtain solutions. From now on, we only consider this case. From (3), we obtain f(x)=x2 for x∈Z+. By induction, we obtain that for x∈Q+ and n∈Z+, from the relation f(x+n)=(x+n)2 it follows that f(x)=x2. Let now ba∈Q+ with a,b∈Z+. We set x=a and y=b and obtain f(ba+b)=b2a2+b2+2a=(ba+b)2. The above remark implies that f(ba)=(ba)2. It is easily verified that f(x)=x2 is indeed a solution. Thus there is no solution for α=2 and the solution f(x)=x2 for α=2.
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