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Algebra Difficulty 6.3 National olympiad Prove it Romania

Find all functions f:RRf : \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R} satisfying the conditions:
(i) f(f(x2)+y+f(y))=x2+2f(y)f(f(x^2) + y + f(y)) = x^2 + 2f(y);
(ii) xyx \le y implies f(x)f(y)f(x) \le f(y);
for all real numbers xx and yy.

Solution

We prove that the only function satisfying the two conditions is f(x)=xf(x) = x.
We prove that ff is an injection. If we put y=0y = 0 in (i) we get f(f(x2)+f(0))=x2+2f(0)f(f(x^2) + f(0)) = x^2 + 2f(0), for any xx, or equivalently,
f(f(a)+f(0))=a+2f(0)(1) f(f(a) + f(0)) = a + 2f(0) \qquad (1)
for any number a0a \ge 0. From (1), ff is an injection on the set of all nonnegative numbers. We fix now yy. From the conditions (i) and (ii) we get that f()f(\cdot) is a superior unbounded function. If f(y1)=f(y2)f(y_1) = f(y_2) then f(f(x2)+y1+f(y1))=f(f(x2)+y2+f(y2))f(f(x^2) + y_1 + f(y_1)) = f(f(x^2) + y_2 + f(y_2)). For large enough values of xx the expressions f(x2)+y1+f(y1)f(x^2) + y_1 + f(y_1) and f(x2)+y2+f(y2)f(x^2) + y_2 + f(y_2) are positive and thus y1=y2y_1 = y_2.

We prove now that f(0)=0f(0) = 0.
Case 1. f(0)0f(0) \le 0. For a=2f(0)a = -2f(0), we have f(f(2f(a))+f(0))=0f(f(-2f(a)) + f(0)) = 0. Thus, there exists a real number cc such that f(c)=0f(c) = 0.
Plugging x=0x = 0 and y=cy = c in (i) we get f(f(0)+c)=0f(f(0) + c) = 0. As ff is an injection, we get f(0)+c=cf(0) + c = c, that is f(0)=0f(0) = 0.
Case 2. f(0)0f(0) \ge 0. In (i) we put x=y=0x = y = 0: f(2f(0))=2f(0)f(2f(0)) = 2f(0). We plug now a=3f(0)=f(0)+f(2f(0))a = 3f(0) = f(0) + f(2f(0)).
From (1) we have f(a)=f(f(2f(0))+f(0))=2f(0)+2f(0)=4f(0)f(a) = f(f(2f(0)) + f(0)) = 2f(0) + 2f(0) = 4f(0). We add now f(0)f(0) and we get f(f(a)+f(0))=f(5f(0))=3f(0)+2f(0)=5f(0)f(f(a) + f(0)) = f(5f(0)) = 3f(0) + 2f(0) = 5f(0).
By plugging now x=0x = 0 and y=2f(0)y = 2f(0) in (i) we get f(5f(0))=4f(0)f(5f(0)) = 4f(0). Thus f(5f(0))=5f(0)=4f(0)f(5f(0)) = 5f(0) = 4f(0), from were we obtain f(0)=0f(0) = 0.
From (1), for a0a \ge 0 we have f(f(a))=af(f(a)) = a, and from (i), for x=0x = 0, we have f(y+f(y))=2f(y)f(y + f(y)) = 2f(y) for any real number yy.
We plug now y=f(a)y = f(a): f(f(a)+a)=2f(f(a))=2af(f(a)+a) = 2f(f(a)) = 2a and y=ay = a: f(a+f(a))=2f(a)f(a+f(a)) = 2f(a). We obtained that for any a0a \ge 0 we have f(a)=af(a) = a.
Then, (i) becomes f(x2+y+f(y))=x2+2f(y)f(x^2 + y + f(y)) = x^2 + 2f(y). We fix now any real yy. There exists a xRx \in \mathbb{R} such that x2+y+f(y)>0x^2 + y + f(y) > 0. Then f(x2+y+f(y))=x2+y+f(y)=x2+2f(y)f(x^2 + y + f(y)) = x^2 + y + f(y) = x^2 + 2f(y) and thus f(y)=yf(y) = y.

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