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Algebra Difficulty 6.8 National Olympiad Prove it Romania

On the set A=[0,)A = [0, \infty), of all nonnegative real numbers, we consider three functions f,g,h:AAf, g, h : A \to A and the binary operation :A×AA*: A \times A \to A, defined by
xy=f(x)+g(y)+h(x)xy,for any x,y0. x * y = f(x) + g(y) + h(x) \cdot |x - y|, \quad \text{for any } x, y \ge 0.
If (A,)(A, *) is a commutative monoid:
a) show that the function hh is continuous on AA;
b) determine the functions f,g,hf, g, h.

Solution

a) Let ee be the unit element of the monoid (A,)(A, *). Then
f(0)+g(e)+h(0)e=0e=0andf(e)+g(0)+h(e)e=e0=0, f(0) + g(e) + h(0) \cdot e = 0 * e = 0 \quad \text{and} \quad f(e) + g(0) + h(e) \cdot e = e * 0 = 0,
so that f(e)=g(e)=f(0)=g(0)=h(e)e=h(0)e=0f(e) = g(e) = f(0) = g(0) = h(e) \cdot e = h(0) \cdot e = 0, whence e=ee=f(e)+g(e)=0e = e * e = f(e) + g(e) = 0.
Then 0x=x0 * x = x and x0=xx * 0 = x, for any x0x \ge 0, and we obtain
f(0)+g(x)+h(0)x=xandf(x)+g(0)+h(x)x=x, f(0) + g(x) + h(0) \cdot x = x \quad \text{and} \quad f(x) + g(0) + h(x) \cdot x = x,
so that f(x)=x(1h(x))f(x) = x(1 - h(x)) and g(x)=x(1h(0))g(x) = x(1 - h(0)), for any x0x \ge 0. Since f(x)f(x), g(x)0g(x) \ge 0, it follows that h(x)[0,1]h(x) \in [0, 1], x0\forall x \ge 0.

xy=x+yxh(x)yh(0)+h(x)xy,x,y0. x * y = x + y - x \cdot h(x) - y \cdot h(0) + h(x) \cdot |x - y|, \quad \forall x, y \ge 0.
xh(x)yh(y)=h(0)(xy)+(h(x)h(y))xy,x,y0. xh(x) - yh(y) = h(0)(x - y) + (h(x) - h(y)) \cdot |x - y|, \quad \forall x, y \ge 0.
Since hh is bounded, it follows that limxyxh(x)=yh(y)\lim_{x \to y} xh(x) = yh(y), for any y0y \ge 0, so that the function p:AAp: A \to A, p(x)=xh(x)p(x) = xh(x), is continuous. But then hh is continuous on (0,)(0, \infty).
Also, for any y>0y > 0 we have
limxyp(x)p(y)xy=h(0), \lim_{x \to y} \frac{p(x) - p(y)}{x - y} = h(0),
so that there are a=h(0)a = h(0) and b0b \ge 0 such that p(y)=ay+b=h(0)y+b,y>0p(y) = ay + b = h(0)y + b, \forall y > 0. Then b=limy0p(y)=p(0)=0b = \lim_{y \to 0} p(y) = p(0) = 0. But then yh(y)=p(y)=yh(0)yh(y) = p(y) = yh(0) for any y>0y > 0 and it follows that h(y)=h(0),y>0h(y) = h(0), \forall y > 0. The function hh is thus constant, hence continuous.

b) Let k=h(0)k = h(0). Then h(x)=kh(x) = k and f(x)=g(x)=x(1k)f(x) = g(x) = x(1 - k), for any x0x \ge 0, and xy=(x+y)(1k)+kxy,x,y0x * y = (x + y)(1 - k) + k|x - y|, \forall x, y \ge 0. Then (11)2=1(12)    k(4k2)=0(1 * 1) * 2 = 1 * (1 * 2) \implies k(4k - 2) = 0, so that k{0,12}k \in \{0, \frac{1}{2}\}.
For k=0k = 0 we have that f=g=idAf = g = \text{id}_A and xy=x+y,x,y0x * y = x + y, \forall x, y \ge 0.
For k=12k = \frac{1}{2} we have that f(x)=g(x)=x2,x0f(x) = g(x) = \frac{x}{2}, \forall x \ge 0 and xy=x+y2+xy2=max(x,y),x,y0x * y = \frac{x+y}{2} + \frac{|x-y|}{2} = \max(x, y), \forall x, y \ge 0.

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