Find all pairs (a,b) of positive integers such that f(x)=x is the only function f:R→R that satisfies fa(x)fb(y)+fb(x)fa(y)=2xy for all x,y∈R. Here fn(x) represents the function obtained by applying n times the function f to x, so f1(x)=f(x) and fn+1(x)=f(fn(x)).
Solution
We are going to prove that exactly all pairs (a,b) with gcd(a,b)=1 and with a+b odd satisfy this.
First assume that gcd(a,b)=n=1. Consider the function g(x)={x+1x+1−nif ⌊x⌋≡0modnif ⌊x⌋≡0modn This function is unequal to idR because n=1. Then ⌊g(x)⌋≡⌊x⌋+1modn. So the numbers ⌊x⌋, ⌊g(x)⌋, ⌊g(g(x))⌋, ..., ⌊gn−1(x)⌋ represent all residue classes modulo n. Hence, gn(x)=x+n times1+⋯+1−n=x. With induction, it follows that gcn(x)=x for all natural c, so since n∣a,b, ga(x)=x and gb(x)=x also holds. So ga(x)gb(y)+gb(x)ga(y)=xy+xy=2xy. So the function f=g=idR satisfies the functional equation in this case.
We now consider the case where a+b is even. Then take the function h(x)=−x. Then it follows from simple induction that hc(x)=(−1)cx. So ha(x)hb(y)+hb(x)ha(y)=(−1)a+bxy+(−1)a+bxy=2xy. So the function f=h=idR satisfies the functional equation.
Now assume that gcd(a,b)=1 and that a+b is odd. With x=y we see fa(x)fb(x)=x2. If we multiply the function equation by fa(x)fa(y), we get 2(xfa(y))(yfa(x))=fa(x)fb(y)fa(x)fa(y)+fb(x)fa(y)fa(x)fa(y)=(fa(x))2=y2fa(y)fb(y)+(fa(y))2=x2fa(x)fb(x)=(yfa(x))2+(xfa(y))2 This is the equality case of the inequality of the arithmetic and geometric mean. Even better, we see that we can rewrite it as (yfa(x)−xfa(y))2=0. So we conclude that yfa(x)=xfa(y). With y=1, we see fa(x)=c1x for some c1∈R. Analogously, multiplication by fb(x)fb(y) gives fb(x)=c2x for a certain c2∈R. If either constant were equal to 0, then the left side of the functional equation is always equal to 0, but the right side is not. So both constants are not equal to 0. Since gcd(a,b)=1 there exist integers p and q such that ap+bq=1. Assume that p is positive and q is negative and write r=−q. Then ap=1+rb with p and r positive holds. We see c1px=(fa)p(x)=fap(x)=f1+rb(x)=f((fb)r(x))=f(c2rx) Hence, f(x)=c2rc1px=dx for some d∈R. If we fill in this function, we see 2da+bxy=2xy, so da+b=1. It follows d=1 because a+b is odd. This means that f(x)=x is the only function that potentially satisfies. It is easy to see that this function actually satisfies, so all pairs (a,b) of natural numbers for which f(x)=x is the only function f:R→R that satisfies fa(x)fb(y)+fb(x)fa(y)=2xy for all x,y∈R are exactly the pairs (a,b) for which a+b is odd and gcd(a,b)=1. □
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