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Algebra Difficulty 5.9 AIME, harder Prove it Ireland

Suppose the function ff is defined and real valued on the real numbers, and its graph is symmetric about the lines x=1/4x = 1/4 and x=3/4x = 3/4. Prove that f(x)=f(x+1)f(x) = f(x+1) for all real numbers xx. Exhibit a non-constant, nonnegative function with the given properties.

Solution

To say that the graph of ff is symmetric about the line x=ax = a is to mean that f(x1)=f(x2)f(x_1) = f(x_2) whenever x1,x2x_1, x_2 are real numbers whose sum is 2a2a. Hence, by hypothesis,
f(14x)=f(14+x)andf(34x)=f(34+x)for all xR. f\left(\frac{1}{4} - x\right) = f\left(\frac{1}{4} + x\right) \quad \text{and} \quad f\left(\frac{3}{4} - x\right) = f\left(\frac{3}{4} + x\right) \quad \text{for all } x \in \mathbb{R}.
Letting y=14xy = \frac{1}{4} - x, we deduce from the first condition that f(y)=f(12y)f(y) = f(\frac{1}{2} - y) for all yRy \in \mathbb{R}. Letting y=34xy = \frac{3}{4} - x in the second relation, we see that f(y)=f(32y)f(y) = f(\frac{3}{2} - y) for all yRy \in \mathbb{R}. Therefore,
f(12y)=f(32y)for all yR. f\left(\frac{1}{2} - y\right) = f\left(\frac{3}{2} - y\right) \quad \text{for all } y \in \mathbb{R}.
Hence, letting x=12yx = \frac{1}{2} - y we see that f(x)=f(1+x)f(x) = f(1 + x) for all xRx \in \mathbb{R}, as desired.

Consider the function
f(x)=sin2(2πx). f(x) = \sin^2(2\pi x).
Then, for all xRx \in \mathbb{R},
f(14x)=sin2(2π(14x))=(sin(π2)cos(2πx)cos(π2)sin(2πx))2=cos2(2πx)=f(14+x). \begin{aligned} f\left(\frac{1}{4} - x\right) &= \sin^2\left(2\pi\left(\frac{1}{4} - x\right)\right) \\ &= \left(\sin\left(\frac{\pi}{2}\right) \cos(2\pi x) - \cos\left(\frac{\pi}{2}\right) \sin(2\pi x)\right)^2 \\ &= \cos^2(2\pi x) = f\left(\frac{1}{4} + x\right). \end{aligned}

f(34x)=sin2(2π(34x))=(sin(3π2)cos(2πx)cos(3π2)sin(2πx))2=cos2(2πx)=f(34+x). \begin{aligned} f\left(\frac{3}{4}-x\right) &= \sin^2\left(2\pi\left(\frac{3}{4}-x\right)\right) \\ &= \left(\sin\left(\frac{3\pi}{2}\right) \cos(2\pi x) - \cos\left(\frac{3\pi}{2}\right) \sin(2\pi x)\right)^2 \\ &= \cos^2(2\pi x) = f\left(\frac{3}{4}+x\right). \end{aligned}
Since it's nonnegative and not a constant function, this ff does the job.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.