Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 5.7 AIME, harder Prove it South Africa

Find all functions ff from integers to integers such that
f(m+n)+f(mn)2f(m)=6mn2 f(m+n) + f(m-n) - 2f(m) = 6mn^2
for all integers mm and nn.

Solution

First note that if we replace f(x)f(x) by f(x)+ax+cf(x) + ax + c for some constants aa and cc, then we get another solution. Thus we may assume for now that f(0)=0f(0) = 0 and f(1)=1f(1) = 1.
Let P(m,n)P(m, n) be the statement that was given. Then P(0,n)P(0, n) gives
f(n)+f(n)2f(0)=0 f(n) + f(-n) - 2f(0) = 0
and since f(0)=0f(0) = 0, we get f(n)=f(n)f(-n) = -f(n). Then taking P(n,m)P(n, m),
f(m+n)+f(nm)2f(n)=6m2n f(m+n) + f(n-m) - 2f(n) = 6m^2n
and subtracting this from P(m,n)P(m, n) gives
2f(mn)+2f(n)2f(m)=6mn(nm). 2f(m-n) + 2f(n) - 2f(m) = 6mn(n-m).
Setting n=1n = -1, dividing by 2 and rearranging gives
f(m+1)=f(m)+f(1)+3m(m+1). f(m+1) = f(m) + f(1) + 3m(m+1).
The first few values of mm tell us:
f(2)=8,f(3)=27,f(4)=64. f(2) = 8, \quad f(3) = 27, \quad f(4) = 64.
We hypothesise for an inductive argument that f(n)=n3f(n) = n^3 and show that
f(n+1)=f(1)+f(n)+3n(n+1)=n3+3n2+3n+1=(n+1)3. f(n+1) = f(1) + f(n) + 3n(n+1) = n^3 + 3n^2 + 3n + 1 = (n+1)^3.
Thus f(n)=n3f(n) = n^3 for all positive integers, and hence by f(n)=f(n)f(-n) = -f(n) also for all negative integers.
Now incorporating our initial remark, we find that all solutions are of the form f(n)=n3+an+cf(n) = n^3 + an + c for some integer constants aa and cc.

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