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Algebra Difficulty 8.8 Shortlist Prove it Netherlands

Find all pairs (a,b)(a, b) of positive integers such that f(x)=xf(x) = x is the only function f:RRf: \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R} that satisfies
fa(x)fb(y)+fb(x)fa(y)=2xy f^a(x)f^b(y) + f^b(x)f^a(y) = 2xy
for all x,yRx, y \in \mathbb{R}.
Here fn(x)f^n(x) represents the function obtained by applying nn times the function ff to xx, so f1(x)=f(x)f^1(x) = f(x) and fn+1(x)=f(fn(x))f^{n+1}(x) = f(f^n(x)).

Solution

We are going to prove that exactly all pairs (a,b)(a, b) with gcd(a,b)=1\gcd(a, b) = 1 and with a+ba + b odd satisfy this.

First assume that gcd(a,b)=n1\gcd(a, b) = n \neq 1. Consider the function
g(x)={x+1if x≢0modnx+1nif x0modn g(x) = \begin{cases} x + 1 & \text{if } \lfloor x \rfloor \not\equiv 0 \mod n \\ x + 1 - n & \text{if } \lfloor x \rfloor \equiv 0 \mod n \end{cases}
This function is unequal to idR\mathrm{id}_R because n1n \neq 1. Then g(x)x+1modn\lfloor g(x) \rfloor \equiv \lfloor x \rfloor + 1 \mod n. So the numbers x\lfloor x \rfloor, g(x)\lfloor g(x) \rfloor, g(g(x))\lfloor g(g(x)) \rfloor, ..., gn1(x)\lfloor g^{n-1}(x) \rfloor represent all residue classes modulo nn. Hence, gn(x)=x+1++1n timesn=xg^n(x) = x + \underbrace{1 + \cdots + 1}_{n \text{ times}} - n = x. With induction, it follows that gcn(x)=xg^{cn}(x) = x for all natural cc, so since na,bn \mid a, b, ga(x)=xg^a(x) = x and gb(x)=xg^b(x) = x also holds. So
ga(x)gb(y)+gb(x)ga(y)=xy+xy=2xy. g^a(x)g^b(y) + g^b(x)g^a(y) = xy + xy = 2xy.
So the function f=gidRf = g \neq \mathrm{id}_R satisfies the functional equation in this case.

We now consider the case where a+ba + b is even. Then take the function h(x)=xh(x) = -x. Then it follows from simple induction that hc(x)=(1)cxh^c(x) = (-1)^c x. So
ha(x)hb(y)+hb(x)ha(y)=(1)a+bxy+(1)a+bxy=2xy. h^a(x)h^b(y) + h^b(x)h^a(y) = (-1)^{a+b}xy + (-1)^{a+b}xy = 2xy.
So the function f=hidRf = h \neq \mathrm{id}_R satisfies the functional equation.

Now assume that gcd(a,b)=1\gcd(a, b) = 1 and that a+ba + b is odd. With x=yx = y we see
fa(x)fb(x)=x2. f^a(x)f^b(x) = x^2.
If we multiply the function equation by fa(x)fa(y)f^a(x)f^a(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))2fa(y)fb(y)=y2+((fa(y))2fa(x)fb(x)=x2))=(yfa(x))2+(xfa(y))2 \begin{align*} 2(x f^a(y))(y f^a(x)) &= f^a(x) f^b(y) f^a(x) f^a(y) + f^b(x) f^a(y) f^a(x) f^a(y) \\ &= \left(\left(f^a(x)\right)^2 \underbrace{f^a(y) f^b(y)}_{=y^2} + \left(\left(f^a(y)\right)^2 \underbrace{f^a(x) f^b(x)}_{=x^2}\right)\right) \\ &= (y f^a(x))^2 + (x f^a(y))^2 \end{align*}
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. (y f^a(x) - x f^a(y))^2 = 0.
So we conclude that yfa(x)=xfa(y)y f^a(x) = x f^a(y). With y=1y=1, we see fa(x)=c1xf^a(x) = c_1 x for some c1Rc_1 \in \mathbb{R}. Analogously, multiplication by fb(x)fb(y)f^b(x)f^b(y) gives fb(x)=c2xf^b(x) = c_2 x for a certain c2Rc_2 \in \mathbb{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\text{gcd}(a, b) = 1 there exist integers pp and qq such that ap+bq=1ap + bq = 1. Assume that pp is positive and qq is negative and write r=qr = -q. Then ap=1+rbap = 1 + rb with pp and rr positive holds. We see
c1px=(fa)p(x)=fap(x)=f1+rb(x)=f((fb)r(x))=f(c2rx) \begin{align*} c_1^p x &= (f^a)^p(x) = f^{ap}(x) \\ &= f^{1+rb}(x) \\ &= f((f^b)^r(x)) \\ &= f(c_2^r x) \end{align*}
Hence, f(x)=c1pc2rx=dxf(x) = \frac{c_1^p}{c_2^r} x = dx for some dRd \in \mathbb{R}. If we fill in this function, we see 2da+bxy=2xy2d^{a+b}xy = 2xy, so da+b=1d^{a+b} = 1. It follows d=1d = 1 because a+ba+b is odd. This means that f(x)=xf(x) = x is the only function that potentially satisfies. It is easy to see that this function actually satisfies, so all pairs (a,b)(a, b) of natural numbers for which f(x)=xf(x) = x is the only function f:RRf: \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R} that satisfies
fa(x)fb(y)+fb(x)fa(y)=2xy f^a(x)f^b(y) + f^b(x)f^a(y) = 2xy
for all x,yRx, y \in \mathbb{R} are exactly the pairs (a,b)(a, b) for which a+ba + b is odd and gcd(a,b)=1\text{gcd}(a, b) = 1. \square

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