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Algebra Difficulty 6.4 National Olympiad Prove it United States

Problem:
Let SS be a finite set of nonzero real numbers, and let f:SSf: S \rightarrow S be a function with the following property: for each xSx \in S, either
f(f(x))=x+f(x)orf(f(x))=x+f(x)2 f(f(x))=x+f(x) \quad \text{or} \quad f(f(x))=\frac{x+f(x)}{2}
Prove that f(x)=xf(x)=x for all xSx \in S.

Solution

Solution:
We will use the notation fn(x)f^{n}(x) to denote f(f(f(x)))f(f(\cdots f(x) \cdots)), where we iterate the function nn times. Suppose, to the contrary, that f(x)xf(x) \neq x for some xSx \in S. This implies that f(f(x))f(x)f(f(x)) \neq f(x) as well, since f(f(x))f(f(x)) is either the sum or the average of xx and f(x)f(x) and these are distinct non-zero real numbers. Likewise, f(f(x))f(x)f(f(x)) \neq f(x) implies that f3(x)f(f(x))f^{3}(x) \neq f(f(x)). We can keep iterating the function to create a sequence
x,f(x),f(f(x)),f3(x),f4(x) x, f(x), f(f(x)), f^{3}(x), f^{4}(x) \cdots
where no term is equal to the term preceding it. However, since SS is finite, eventually there has to be a repeating value. In other words, there exists m,nm, n, with n>m+1n>m+1, such that fm(x)=fn(x)f^{m}(x)=f^{n}(x).
Let a=fm(x)a=f^{m}(x). Then a,f(a),f(f(a)),,fnm(a)=aa, f(a), f(f(a)), \cdots, f^{n-m}(a)=a is a cycle of length nmn-m. Since f(f(x))f(f(x)) cannot equal xx (the sum of xx and f(x)f(x) cannot equal xx since f(x)f(x) is nonzero and the average of xx and f(x)f(x) cannot equal xx because f(x)xf(x) \neq x ), the cycle has length at least 3. Since the cycle is finite, and the terms are nonzero, there must be a term of maximum absolute value. Call this MM, and without loss of generality, assume that MM is positive.
We know that the cycle has at least three terms, so consider the consecutive terms U,V,MU, V, M in the cycle (since it is a cycle, it can start "anywhere"). We have V=f(U)V=f(U) and M=f(V)=f(f(U))M=f(V)=f(f(U)). We claim that VV is positive, for if it were negative, then MM would be either the average of UU and VV or the sum of UU and VV, which would force UU to be larger than MM, contradicting the fact that MM is the largest term in the cycle.
But if VV is positive, then f(M)=f(f(V))f(M)=f(f(V)) must be greater than M/2M / 2, since it is either the sum or average of a positive number and MM. Likewise, f(f(M))f(f(M)) must also be greater than M/2M / 2, since it is either the sum or average of MM and a value that is greater than M/2M / 2. Once we have two consecutive terms in the cycle that are greater than M/2M / 2, all subsequent terms in the cycle will be greater than M/2M / 2. In other words, the cycle starting at MM,
M,f(M),f(f(M)),f3(M), M, f(M), f(f(M)), f^{3}(M), \cdots
consists entirely of terms whose value is greater than M/2M / 2. Also, starting with the third term, each term is either the sum or average of the two terms preceding it. But since it is a cycle, eventually it will come back to the value of MM, and that is impossible: MM is neither the sum nor the average of two terms greater than M/2M / 2. We have achieved a contradiction, and conclude that there are no xSx \in S such that f(x)xf(x) \neq x; i.e. f(x)=xf(x)=x for all xSx \in S.

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