Find all functions such that
for all . (Symbol denotes the set of all positive real numbers.)
, 2007
Solutions — 2
Solution 1
First we show that for all . Functional equation (1) yields and hence immediately. If for some , then setting we get
contradiction. Therefore for all .
For define ; then and, as we have seen, . Transforming (1) for function and setting ,
and therefore
Next we prove that function is injective. Suppose that for some numbers . Then by (2),
for all . Hence, is possible only if .
Now let be arbitrary positive numbers and . Applying (2) three times,
By the injective property we conclude that , hence
Since function is positive, equation (3) also shows that is an increasing function.
Finally we prove that . Combining (2) and (3), we obtain
and hence
Suppose that there exists an such that . By the monotonicity of , if then . Similarly, if then . Both cases lead to contradiction, so there exists no such .
We have proved that and therefore for all . This function indeed satisfies the functional equation (1).
Solution 2
We prove that and introduce function in the same way as in Solution 1.
For arbitrary , substitute into (1) to obtain
which, by induction, implies
Take two arbitrary positive reals and and a third fixed number . For each positive integer , let . Then and, applying (4) twice,
As we get
and therefore
Exchanging variables and , we obtain the reverse inequality. Hence, for arbitrary and ; so function is constant, .
Substituting back into (1), we find that is a solution if and only if . So the only solution for the problem is .