Determine all functions such that, for all real numbers and ,
Solutions — 2
Solution 1
Setting yields . If , we obtain or equivalently for all . Inserting this in the original equation yields
for , which is true.
Therefore, we are left with .
With the substitution , the functional equation is equivalent to
Exchanging and yields
Combining (1) and (2) yields
or equivalently
Setting yields
so for each we either have or .
Assume that there is an with . For , we have , so . Thus (3) implies for all . It is clear that the constant function is a solution.
Otherwise, we have for all and therefore for all . This is also a solution.
We conclude that there are three solutions , namely , and .
Solution 2
Setting gives . Since gives a solution, we remain with the case . Setting gives
Since is a solution, we remain with the case .
Now suppose . Setting gives , that is
Setting gives , that is
If for some , we have and and applying (4) and (5) to and instead of we get , a contradiction. Hence for all .