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Algebra Difficulty 6.3 National Olympiad Prove it India

Problem:
Let XX denote the set of all triples (a,b,c)(a, b, c) of integers. Define a function f:XXf: X \rightarrow X by
f(a,b,c)=(a+b+c,ab+bc+ca,abc) f(a, b, c) = (a + b + c, ab + bc + ca, abc)
Find all triples (a,b,c)(a, b, c) in XX such that f(f(a,b,c))=(a,b,c)f(f(a, b, c)) = (a, b, c).

Solution

Solution:
We show that the solution set consists of {(t,0,0);tZ}{(1,1,1)}\{(t, 0, 0) ; t \in \mathbb{Z}\} \cup \{(-1, -1, 1)\}. Let us put a+b+c=da + b + c = d, ab+bc+ca=eab + bc + ca = e and abc=fabc = f. The given condition f(f(a,b,c))=(a,b,c)f(f(a, b, c)) = (a, b, c) implies that
d+e+f=a,de+ef+fd=b,def=c d + e + f = a, \quad de + ef + fd = b, \quad def = c
Thus abcdef=fcabcdef = fc and hence either cf=0cf = 0 or abde=1abde = 1.

Case I: Suppose cf=0cf = 0. Then either c=0c = 0 or f=0f = 0. However c=0c = 0 implies f=0f = 0 and vice-versa. Thus we obtain a+b=da + b = d, d+e=ad + e = a, ab=eab = e and de=bde = b. The first two relations give b=eb = -e. Thus e=ab=aee = ab = -ae and de=b=ede = b = -e. We get either e=0e = 0 or a=d=1a = d = -1.
If e=0e = 0, then b=0b = 0 and a=d=ta = d = t, say. We get the triple (a,b,c)=(t,0,0)(a, b, c) = (t, 0, 0), where tZt \in \mathbb{Z}. If e0e \neq 0, then a=d=1a = d = -1. But then d+e+f=ad + e + f = a implies that 1+e+0=1-1 + e + 0 = -1 forcing e=0e = 0. Thus we get the solution family (a,b,c)=(t,0,0)(a, b, c) = (t, 0, 0), where tZt \in \mathbb{Z}.

Case II: Suppose cf0cf \neq 0. In this case abde=1abde = 1. Hence either all are equal to 11; or two equal to 11 and the other two equal to 1-1; or all equal to 1-1.
Suppose a=b=d=e=1a = b = d = e = 1. Then a+b+c=da + b + c = d shows that c=1c = -1. Similarly f=1f = -1. Hence e=ab+bc+ca=111=1e = ab + bc + ca = 1 - 1 - 1 = -1 contradicting e=1e = 1.
Suppose a=b=1a = b = 1 and d=e=1d = e = -1. Then a+b+c=da + b + c = d gives c=3c = -3 and d+e+f=ad + e + f = a gives f=3f = 3. But then f=abc=11(3)=3f = abc = 1 \cdot 1 \cdot (-3) = -3, a contradiction. Similarly a=b=1a = b = -1 and d=e=1d = e = 1 is not possible.
If a=1,b=1,d=1,e=1a = 1, b = -1, d = 1, e = -1, then a+b+c=da + b + c = d gives c=1c = 1. Similarly f=1f = 1. But then f=abc=11(1)=1f = abc = 1 \cdot 1 \cdot (-1) = -1 a contradiction. If a=1,b=1,d=1,e=1a = 1, b = -1, d = -1, e = 1, then c=1c = -1 and e=ab+bc+ca=1+11=1e = ab + bc + ca = -1 + 1 - 1 = -1 and a contradiction to e=1e = 1. The symmetry between (a,b,c)(a, b, c) and (d,e,f)(d, e, f) shows that a=1,b=1,d=1,e=1a = -1, b = 1, d = 1, e = -1 is not possible. Finally if a=1,b=1,d=1a = -1, b = 1, d = -1 and e=1e = 1, then c=1c = -1 and f=1f = -1. But then f=abcf = abc is not satisfied.
The only case left is that of a,b,d,ea, b, d, e being all equal to 1-1. Then c=1c = 1 and f=1f = 1. It is easy to check that (1,1,1)(-1, -1, 1) is indeed a solution.

Alternatively
cf0cf \neq 0 implies that c1|c| \geq 1 and f1|f| \geq 1. Observe that
d22e=a2+b2+c2,a22b=d2+e2+f2 d^{2} - 2e = a^{2} + b^{2} + c^{2}, \quad a^{2} - 2b = d^{2} + e^{2} + f^{2}
Adding these two, we get 2(b+e)=b2+c2+e2+f2-2(b + e) = b^{2} + c^{2} + e^{2} + f^{2}. This may be written in the form
(b+1)2+(e+1)2+c2+f22=0 (b + 1)^{2} + (e + 1)^{2} + c^{2} + f^{2} - 2 = 0
We conclude that c2+f22c^{2} + f^{2} \leq 2. Using c1|c| \geq 1 and f1|f| \geq 1, we obtain c=1|c| = 1 and f=1|f| = 1, b+1=0b + 1 = 0 and e+1=0e + 1 = 0. Thus b=e=1b = e = -1. Now a+d=d+e+f+a+b+ca + d = d + e + f + a + b + c and this gives b+c+e+f=0b + c + e + f = 0. It follows that c=f=1c = f = 1 and finally a=d=1a = d = -1.

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