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Algebra Difficulty 6.3 National Olympiad Prove it Taiwan

Let Z\mathbb{Z} be the set of all integers. Determine all functions f:ZZf : \mathbb{Z} \to \mathbb{Z} such that
f(xf(y))=f(f(x))f(y)1 f(x - f(y)) = f(f(x)) - f(y) - 1
holds for all x,yZx, y \in \mathbb{Z}.

Let the set of all integers be denoted by Z\mathbb{Z}. Find all functions f:ZZf : \mathbb{Z} \to \mathbb{Z} satisfying:
f(xf(y))=f(f(x))f(y)1 f(x - f(y)) = f(f(x)) - f(y) - 1
for all integers x,yx, y.

Solution

There are two solutions: f(x)=1f(x) = -1 and f(x)=x+1f(x) = x + 1.
The functional equation is
f(xf(y))=f(f(x))f(y)1(1) f(x - f(y)) = f(f(x)) - f(y) - 1 \quad (1)
1. Take x=0x = 0 and y=f(0)y = f(0) into (1), we learn that z=f(f(0))z = -f(f(0)) satisfies f(z)=1f(z) = -1.

2. Set y=zy = z into (1), we have
f(x+1)=f(f(x)).(2) f(x + 1) = f(f(x)). \quad (2)

3. Therefore, (1) becomes
f(xf(y))=f(x+1)f(y)1.(3) f(x - f(y)) = f(x + 1) - f(y) - 1. \quad (3)

4. Now we show that ff is linear. By applying (3) with y=xy = x and then (2), we obtain
f(x+1)f(x)=f(xf(x))+1=f(f(x1f(x)))+1. f(x + 1) - f(x) = f(x - f(x)) + 1 = f(f(x - 1 - f(x))) + 1.
Since (3) shows f(x1f(x))=f(x)f(x)1=1f(x - 1 - f(x)) = f(x) - f(x) - 1 = -1, we have
f(x+1)=f(x)+A, f(x + 1) = f(x) + A,
where A=f(1)+1A = f(-1) + 1 is some constant. Standard induction shows that
f(x)=Ax+B, f(x) = Ax + B,
where B=f(0)B = f(0).

5. Back to (2), we have
Ax+(A+B)=A2x+(AB+B). Ax + (A + B) = A^2 x + (AB + B).
Take x=0x = 0 and x=1x = 1, we have A+B=AB+BA + B = AB + B and A2=AA^2 = A. The second equation leads to A=0A = 0 or A=1A = 1. If A=1A = 1, we have B=1B = 1, so f(x)=x+1f(x) = x + 1. If A=0A = 0, ff would be a constant, and (1) shows that f(x)=1f(x) = -1.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement translated into English from zh; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.