Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /159 of 264

Algebra Difficulty 6.0 AIME, harder Prove it Romania

Find all functions f,g:QQf, g : \mathbb{Q} \to \mathbb{Q} such that, for all x,yQx, y \in \mathbb{Q},
f(g(x)+g(y))=f(g(x))+y, f(g(x) + g(y)) = f(g(x)) + y,
g(f(x)+f(y))=g(f(x))+y, g(f(x) + f(y)) = g(f(x)) + y,

Solution

If g(y1)=g(y2)g(y_1) = g(y_2), the first equality yields y1=y2y_1 = y_2, hence gg is injective. Analogously, ff is injective, as well.
Plugging y=0y = 0 in the first equality gives f(g(x)+g(0))=f(g(x))f(g(x) + g(0)) = f(g(x)), hence g(x)+g(0)=g(x)g(x) + g(0) = g(x), so that g(0)=0g(0) = 0; similarly, f(0)=0f(0) = 0.
Plugging x=0x = 0 in both equalities yields f(g(y))=g(f(y))=yf(g(y)) = g(f(y)) = y, for all yy, therefore ff and gg are bijective and g=f1g = f^{-1}.
The initial equalities become
f(g(x)+g(y))=x+y,g(f(x)+f(y))=x+y, f(g(x) + g(y)) = x + y, \quad g(f(x) + f(y)) = x + y,
for all x,yQx, y \in \mathbb{Q}, and we deduce
g(x+y)=g(x)+g(y),f(x+y)=f(x)+f(y), g(x + y) = g(x) + g(y), \quad f(x + y) = f(x) + f(y),
for all x,yQx, y \in \mathbb{Q}. Setting a=f(1),b=g(1)a = f(1), b = g(1), it is easy to prove that f(x)=ax,g(x)=bxf(x) = ax, g(x) = bx, for all xQx \in \mathbb{Q}.
Since g=f1g = f^{-1}, we obtain ab=1ab = 1. Finally, the functions are
f(x)=ax,g(x)=xa, f(x) = ax, \quad g(x) = \frac{x}{a},
where aQa \in \mathbb{Q}^*, and it is easy to see that they satisfy the initial equalities.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.