Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / APMO /17 of 25

APMO, 1989

Algebra Difficulty 7.7 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Asia Pacific Mathematics Olympiad (APMO)

Determine all functions ff from the reals to the reals for which
(1) f(x)f(x) is strictly increasing,
(2) f(x)+g(x)=2xf(x)+g(x)=2x for all real xx, where g(x)g(x) is the composition inverse function to f(x)f(x).
(Note: ff and gg are said to be composition inverses if f(g(x))=xf(g(x))=x and g(f(x))=xg(f(x))=x for all real xx.)

Solution

Denote by fnf_n the nnth iterate of ff, that is, fn(x)=f(f(…f⏟n times (x)))f_n(x)=\underbrace{f(f(\ldots f}_{n \text{ times }}(x))).
Plug x→fn+1(x)x \rightarrow f_{n+1}(x) in (2): since g(fn+1(x))=g(f(fn(x)))=fn(x)g\left(f_{n+1}(x)\right)=g\left(f\left(f_n(x)\right)\right)=f_n(x),
fn+2(x)+fn(x)=2fn+1(x), f_{n+2}(x)+f_n(x)=2 f_{n+1}(x),
that is,
fn+2(x)−fn+1(x)=fn+1(x)−fn(x). f_{n+2}(x)-f_{n+1}(x)=f_{n+1}(x)-f_n(x) .
Therefore fn(x)−fn−1(x)f_n(x)-f_{n-1}(x) does not depend on nn, and is equal to f(x)−xf(x)-x. Summing the corresponding results for smaller values of nn we find
fn(x)−x=n(f(x)−x). f_n(x)-x=n(f(x)-x) .
Since gg has the same properties as ff,
gn(x)−x=n(g(x)−x)=−n(f(x)−x). g_n(x)-x=n(g(x)-x)=-n(f(x)-x) .
Finally, gg is also increasing, because since ff is increasing g(x)>g(y)⟹f(g(x))>f(g(y))⟹x>yg(x)>g(y) \Longrightarrow f(g(x))> f(g(y)) \Longrightarrow x>y. An induction proves that fnf_n and gng_n are also increasing functions.
Let x>yx>y be real numbers. Since fnf_n and gng_n are increasing,
x+n(f(x)−x)>y+n(f(y)−y)⟺n[(f(x)−x)−(f(y)−y)]>y−x x+n(f(x)-x)>y+n(f(y)-y) \Longleftrightarrow n[(f(x)-x)-(f(y)-y)]>y-x
and
x−n(f(x)−x)>y−n(f(y)−y)⟺n[(f(x)−x)−(f(y)−y)]<x−y. x-n(f(x)-x)>y-n(f(y)-y) \Longleftrightarrow n[(f(x)-x)-(f(y)-y)]<x-y .
Summing it up,
∣n[(f(x)−x)−(f(y)−y)]∣<x−y for all n∈Z>0. |n[(f(x)-x)-(f(y)-y)]|<x-y \quad \text{ for all } n \in \mathbb{Z}_{>0} .
Suppose that a=f(x)−xa=f(x)-x and b=f(y)−yb=f(y)-y are distinct. Then, for all positive integers nn,
∣n(a−b)∣<x−y, |n(a-b)|<x-y,
which is false for a sufficiently large nn. Hence a=ba=b, and f(x)−xf(x)-x is a constant cc for all x∈Rx \in \mathbb{R}, that is, f(x)=x+cf(x)=x+c.
It is immediate that f(x)=x+cf(x)=x+c satisfies the problem, as g(x)=x−cg(x)=x-c.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,604 problems in a working order, from Junior Challenge level to the IMO shortlist.

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