Find all real-valued functions defined on the set of real numbers such that
for any real numbers and .
Solution
The answer is any constant function .
Clearly, constant functions are solutions. In the following, we show that there is no solution if is not a constant function.
Label the equation
Swapping and , we get . Comparing with (1), we get
Putting in (2), we find that . If , then runs through all real values. This implies is a constant function, which is a contradiction. So we have . Putting in (2), we obtain
Next, we put in (1) to get
Replacing by in (1), and using (4), we find that
Swapping and , and comparing with this equation again, we get
Putting in (5) and using (4), we have . Then we put in (1) to obtain . It follows from (4) by putting that . Thus, (3) becomes . Together with (4), we find that for any . This is a contradiction as we have assumed is non-constant.
Therefore, the only solutions are the constant functions.