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Algebra Difficulty 6.2 National olympiad Prove it Czech-Polish-Slovak Mathematical Match

Find all functions f:(0,+)Rf: (0, +\infty) \to \mathbb{R} satisfying
f(x)f(x+y)=f(xy)f(x+y)for all x,y>0. f(x) - f(x + y) = f\left(\frac{x}{y}\right) f(x + y) \quad \text{for all } x, y > 0.

Solution

Suppose f(t)=0f(t) = 0 for some t>0t > 0. For 0<x<t0 < x < t we choose y=tx>0y = t - x > 0 and find f(x)=0f(x) = 0. From setting x=y=1x = y = 1 we conclude that f(1)1f(1) \ne -1. Hence by setting x=yx = y we get f(x)f(2x)=f(1)f(2x)f(x) - f(2x) = f(1)f(2x) for x>0x > 0. Inductively we find
f(2nx)=f(x)(1+f(1))n.(2) f(2^n x) = f(x)(1 + f(1))^{-n}. \quad (2)
Hence for an arbitrary x>0x > 0 we choose nNn \in \mathbb{N} such that x2nt\frac{x}{2^n} \le t and we conclude from (2) that f(x)=0f(x) = 0.

Now suppose f(t)0f(t) \ne 0 for all t>0t > 0. We define g(x):=f(x)1g(x) := f(x)^{-1}, x>0x > 0, and rewrite the given equation as
g(x+y)g(x)=g(x)g(xy)for all x,y>0.(3) g(x + y) - g(x) = \frac{g(x)}{g\left(\frac{x}{y}\right)} \quad \text{for all } x, y > 0. \quad (3)
By setting y=1y = 1 we obtain g(x+1)=g(x)+1g(x + 1) = g(x) + 1 for all x>0x > 0. It follows that g(n)=n1+g(1)g(n) = n - 1 + g(1) holds for all nNn \in \mathbb{N}. Setting x=y=2x = y = 2 in (3) we now find g(1)=1g(1) = 1. Setting x=1x = 1 we obtain g(y)g(1y)=1g(y)g(\frac{1}{y}) = 1 for all y>0y > 0. We can now rewrite (3) as
g(x+y)=g(x)+g(x)g(yx)=g(x)(1+g(yx))=g(x)g(x+yx).(4) g(x + y) = g(x) + g(x)g\left(\frac{y}{x}\right) = g(x)\left(1 + g\left(\frac{y}{x}\right)\right) = g(x)g\left(\frac{x+y}{x}\right). \quad (4)
From (4) we directly see that g(a)g(b)=g(ab)g(a)g(b) = g(ab) for all a>0a > 0 and b>1b > 1. Using g(y)g(1y)=1g(y)g(\frac{1}{y}) = 1, we can rewrite (4) as
g(xx+y)g(x+y)=g(x), g\left(\frac{x}{x+y}\right)g(x + y) = g(x),
which together with the previous line shows that g(a)g(b)=g(ab)g(a)g(b) = g(ab) holds indeed for all a,b>0a, b > 0. In particular we see that g(a)=g(a)2>0g(a) = g(\sqrt{a})^2 > 0, so gg is a positive function. Also, from the first equation in (4) we now infer the functional equation
g(x+y)=g(x)+g(y)for all x,y(0,). g(x + y) = g(x) + g(y) \quad \text{for all } x, y \in (0, \infty).
It is well known that this implies g(x)=xg(1)=xg(x) = xg(1) = x for xQ>0x \in \mathbb{Q}_{>0}. Since gg is positive, by (3) we deduce that g(x+y)>g(x)g(x + y) > g(x), so gg is strictly increasing. Hence g(x)=xg(x) = x for all x>0x > 0.

Since f(x)=0f(x) = 0 and f(x)=1xf(x) = \frac{1}{x} obviously satisfy the given equation, we have found all solutions. \square

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