Olympiad Maths Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 8.0 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it IMO

Find all functions f:R+R+f: \mathbb{R}^{+} \rightarrow \mathbb{R}^{+} such that
f(x+f(y))=f(x+y)+f(y) f(x+f(y))=f(x+y)+f(y)
for all x,yR+x, y \in \mathbb{R}^{+}. (Symbol R+\mathbb{R}^{+} denotes the set of all positive real numbers.)

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

First we show that f(y)>yf(y)>y for all yR+y \in \mathbb{R}^{+}. Functional equation (1) yields f(x+f(y))>f(x+y)f(x+f(y))>f(x+y) and hence f(y)yf(y) \neq y immediately. If f(y)<yf(y)<y for some yy, then setting x=yf(y)x=y-f(y) we get
f(y)=f((yf(y))+f(y))=f((yf(y))+y)+f(y)>f(y), f(y)=f((y-f(y))+f(y))=f((y-f(y))+y)+f(y)>f(y),
contradiction. Therefore f(y)>yf(y)>y for all yR+y \in \mathbb{R}^{+}.
For xR+x \in \mathbb{R}^{+} define g(x)=f(x)xg(x)=f(x)-x; then f(x)=g(x)+xf(x)=g(x)+x and, as we have seen, g(x)>0g(x)>0. Transforming (1) for function g(x)g(x) and setting t=x+yt=x+y,
f(t+g(y))=f(t)+f(y)g(t+g(y))+t+g(y)=(g(t)+t)+(g(y)+y) \begin{aligned} f(t+g(y)) & =f(t)+f(y) \\ g(t+g(y))+t+g(y) & =(g(t)+t)+(g(y)+y) \end{aligned}
and therefore
g(t+g(y))=g(t)+y for all t>y>0 \begin{equation*} g(t+g(y))=g(t)+y \quad \text{ for all } t>y>0 \tag{2} \end{equation*}
Next we prove that function g(x)g(x) is injective. Suppose that g(y1)=g(y2)g\left(y_{1}\right)=g\left(y_{2}\right) for some numbers y1,y2R+y_{1}, y_{2} \in \mathbb{R}^{+}. Then by (2),
g(t)+y1=g(t+g(y1))=g(t+g(y2))=g(t)+y2 g(t)+y_{1}=g\left(t+g\left(y_{1}\right)\right)=g\left(t+g\left(y_{2}\right)\right)=g(t)+y_{2}
for all t>max{y1,y2}t>\max \{y_{1}, y_{2}\}. Hence, g(y1)=g(y2)g\left(y_{1}\right)=g\left(y_{2}\right) is possible only if y1=y2y_{1}=y_{2}.
Now let u,vu, v be arbitrary positive numbers and t>u+vt>u+v. Applying (2) three times,
g(t+g(u)+g(v))=g(t+g(u))+v=g(t)+u+v=g(t+g(u+v)) g(t+g(u)+g(v))=g(t+g(u))+v=g(t)+u+v=g(t+g(u+v))
By the injective property we conclude that t+g(u)+g(v)=t+g(u+v)t+g(u)+g(v)=t+g(u+v), hence
g(u)+g(v)=g(u+v) \begin{equation*} g(u)+g(v)=g(u+v) \tag{3} \end{equation*}
Since function g(v)g(v) is positive, equation (3) also shows that gg is an increasing function.
Finally we prove that g(x)=xg(x)=x. Combining (2) and (3), we obtain
g(t)+y=g(t+g(y))=g(t)+g(g(y)) g(t)+y=g(t+g(y))=g(t)+g(g(y))
and hence
g(g(y))=y g(g(y))=y
Suppose that there exists an xR+x \in \mathbb{R}^{+} such that g(x)xg(x) \neq x. By the monotonicity of gg, if x>g(x)x>g(x) then g(x)>g(g(x))=xg(x)>g(g(x))=x. Similarly, if x<g(x)x<g(x) then g(x)<g(g(x))=xg(x)<g(g(x))=x. Both cases lead to contradiction, so there exists no such xx.
We have proved that g(x)=xg(x)=x and therefore f(x)=g(x)+x=2xf(x)=g(x)+x=2 x for all xR+x \in \mathbb{R}^{+}. This function indeed satisfies the functional equation (1).

Solution 2

We prove that f(y)>yf(y)>y and introduce function g(x)=f(x)x>0g(x)=f(x)-x>0 in the same way as in Solution 1.
For arbitrary t>y>0t>y>0, substitute x=tyx=t-y into (1) to obtain
f(t+g(y))=f(t)+f(y) f(t+g(y))=f(t)+f(y)
which, by induction, implies
f(t+ng(y))=f(t)+nf(y) for all t>y>0,nN. \begin{equation*} f(t+n g(y))=f(t)+n f(y) \quad \text{ for all } t>y>0, n \in \mathbb{N} . \tag{4} \end{equation*}
Take two arbitrary positive reals yy and zz and a third fixed number t>max{y,z}t>\max \{y, z\}. For each positive integer kk, let k=kg(y)g(z)\ell_{k}=\left\lfloor k \frac{g(y)}{g(z)}\right\rfloor. Then t+kg(y)kg(z)t>zt+k g(y)-\ell_{k} g(z) \geq t>z and, applying (4) twice,
f(t+kg(y)kg(z))+kf(z)=f(t+kg(y))=f(t)+kf(y)0<1kf(t+kg(y)kg(z))=f(t)k+f(y)kkf(z) \begin{aligned} f\left(t+k g(y)-\ell_{k} g(z)\right)+\ell_{k} f(z) & =f(t+k g(y))=f(t)+k f(y) \\ 0 & <\frac{1}{k} f\left(t+k g(y)-\ell_{k} g(z)\right)=\frac{f(t)}{k}+f(y)-\frac{\ell_{k}}{k} f(z) \end{aligned}
As kk \rightarrow \infty we get
0limk(f(t)k+f(y)kkf(z))=f(y)g(y)g(z)f(z)=f(y)f(y)yf(z)zf(z) 0 \leq \lim _{k \rightarrow \infty}\left(\frac{f(t)}{k}+f(y)-\frac{\ell_{k}}{k} f(z)\right)=f(y)-\frac{g(y)}{g(z)} f(z)=f(y)-\frac{f(y)-y}{f(z)-z} f(z)
and therefore
f(y)yf(z)z \frac{f(y)}{y} \leq \frac{f(z)}{z}
Exchanging variables yy and zz, we obtain the reverse inequality. Hence, f(y)y=f(z)z\frac{f(y)}{y}=\frac{f(z)}{z} for arbitrary yy and zz; so function f(x)x\frac{f(x)}{x} is constant, f(x)=cxf(x)=c x.
Substituting back into (1), we find that f(x)=cxf(x)=c x is a solution if and only if c=2c=2. So the only solution for the problem is f(x)=2xf(x)=2 x.

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