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SAUDI ARABIAN IMO Booklet, 2023

Algebra Difficulty 7.8 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Saudi Arabia

Find all functions f:R→Rf : \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R} such that
2(y+1)f(x)f(y−1)=2yf(xy)−f(2x) 2(y + 1)f(x)f(y - 1) = 2yf(xy) - f(2x)
for all x,y∈Rx, y \in \mathbb{R}.

Solution

Put x=0,y=−1x = 0, y = -1: 0=−2f(0)−f(0)0 = -2f(0) - f(0) thus f(0)=0f(0) = 0.

Put y=1y = 1: 2f(x)=f(2x)2f(x) = f(2x), for all xx so the given condition can rewrite as
(y+1)f(x)f(y−1)=yf(xy)−f(x),∀x,y (y + 1)f(x)f(y - 1) = yf(xy) - f(x), \forall x, y
Continue to put y=0y = 0 then f(x)f(−1)=−f(x)f(x)f(-1) = -f(x). If f(−1)≠−1f(-1) \neq -1 then f(x)=0f(x) = 0 for all xx, which is satisfied the given condition. Now suppose that there exist some x0x_0 such that f(x0)≠0f(x_0) \neq 0, this implies that f(−1)=−1f(-1) = -1 and f(1)=1f(1) = 1.

In (*), put x=1x = 1 then (y+1)f(y−1)=yf(y)−1(y + 1)f(y - 1) = yf(y) - 1 for all yy. Replace to the LHS of (*), one can get
(yf(y)−1)f(x)=yf(xy)−f(x) (yf(y) - 1)f(x) = yf(xy) - f(x)
so f(xy)=f(x)f(y)f(xy) = f(x)f(y), ∀x,y≠0\forall x, y \neq 0 which implies that ff is multiplication function. Also put y=−1y = -1 in (*) then f(x)=−f(−x)f(x) = -f(-x) which implies that f(x)f(x) is odd.

Suppose that aa is some number such that f(a)=0f(a) = 0 then by substituting x=ax = a into (*), we get 0=yf(ay)−00 = yf(ay) - 0 so f(ay)=0,∀y≠0f(ay) = 0, \forall y \neq 0. If a≠0a \neq 0 then ayay can take any values on R\mathbb{R} so f(x)≡0f(x) \equiv 0, contradiction. Thus a=0a = 0 is the unique value such that f(a)=0f(a) = 0. Since (y+1)f(y−1)=yf(y)−1(y+1)f(y-1) = yf(y) - 1, change y→−yy \to -y and using the property of odd function, one can get
(−y+1)f(−y−1)=yf(y)−1,∀y∈R. (-y + 1)f(-y - 1) = yf(y) - 1, \forall y \in \mathbb{R}.
Thus for all y≠±1y \neq \pm 1 we have
(y+1)f(y−1)=(y−1)f(y+1)⇔f(y+1)f(y−1)=y+1y−1 (y + 1)f(y - 1) = (y - 1)f(y + 1) \Leftrightarrow \frac{f(y + 1)}{f(y - 1)} = \frac{y + 1}{y - 1}
for all y≠±1y \neq \pm 1. Due to the multiplication property of ff, rewrite the last equation as
f(y+1y−1)=y+1y−1,∀y∈R∖{±1}. f\left(\frac{y+1}{y-1}\right) = \frac{y+1}{y-1}, \forall y \in \mathbb{R} \setminus \{\pm 1\}.
Note that t=y+1y−1t = \frac{y+1}{y-1} can take any value on R∖{1}\mathbb{R} \setminus \{1\} so f(t)=t,∀t≠0,1f(t) = t, \forall t \neq 0, 1. But f(1)=1,f(0)=0f(1) = 1, f(0) = 0 so we have f(x)=x,∀x∈Rf(x) = x, \forall x \in \mathbb{R}. Hence, there are two functions that satisfying the given condition: f(x)=0,∀x∈Rf(x) = 0, \forall x \in \mathbb{R} and f(x)=x,∀x∈Rf(x) = x, \forall x \in \mathbb{R}.

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