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Algebra Difficulty 5.9 AIME, harder Prove it Saudi Arabia

Find all functions f:NNf: \mathbb{N} \rightarrow \mathbb{N} such that
f(n+1)>f(n)+f(f(n))2 f(n+1) > \frac{f(n) + f(f(n))}{2}
for all nNn \in \mathbb{N}, where N\mathbb{N} is the set of strictly positive integers.

Solution

It is clear that f(n)1f(n) \geq 1 for all n1n \geq 1. Assume that f(n)mf(n) \geq m for all nmn \geq m, for some m1m \geq 1. Let nm+1n \geq m+1. Because n1mn-1 \geq m, we have f(n1)mf(n-1) \geq m and therefore f(f(n1))mf(f(n-1)) \geq m. We deduce that f(n)>f(n1)+f(f(n1))2mf(n) > \frac{f(n-1) + f(f(n-1))}{2} \geq m. Hence, f(n)m+1f(n) \geq m+1. In particular, f(n)nf(n) \geq n for all nNn \in \mathbb{N}.

Assume there exists mm for which f(m)m+2f(m) \geq m+2. Then f(f(m))f(m+2)m+2f(f(m)) \geq f(m+2) \geq m+2, and f(m+1)>f(m)+f(f(m))2m+2f(m+1) > \frac{f(m) + f(f(m))}{2} \geq m+2. This gives f(m+1)(m+1)+2f(m+1) \geq (m+1)+2. It follows by induction that f(n)n+2f(n) \geq n+2 for all nmn \geq m. Therefore, for all nmn \geq m, f(n+1)f(n)>f(f(n))f(n+1)f(n+2)f(n+1)f(n+1) - f(n) > f(f(n)) - f(n+1) \geq f(n+2) - f(n+1), which means that the sequence f(n+1)f(n)f(n+1) - f(n) becomes decreasing from mm and this contradicts the fact f(n)nf(n) \geq n for all nNn \in \mathbb{N}. We deduce that
nf(n)n+1 for all nN n \leq f(n) \leq n+1 \text{ for all } n \in \mathbb{N}
It is clear that the identity function is a solution. Assume that there exists mNm \in \mathbb{N} such that f(m)=m+1f(m) = m+1. We have m+2f(m+1)>f(m)+f(f(m))f(m+1)=m+1m+2 \geq f(m+1) > f(m) + f(f(m)) - f(m+1) = m+1. This proves that f(m+1)=(m+1)+1f(m+1) = (m+1)+1 and by induction f(n)=n+1f(n) = n+1, for all nmn \geq m. After checking, we conclude that the solutions are the identity function, f(n)=n+1f(n) = n+1 for all nNn \in \mathbb{N}, and all the functions which can be written
f(n)={n if n<mn+1 if nm f(n) = \begin{cases} n & \text{ if } n < m \\ n+1 & \text{ if } n \geq m \end{cases}
for some m>1m > 1.

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