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Algebra Difficulty 8.8 Shortlist Prove it Switzerland

Problem:
Find all even functions g:RRg: \mathbb{R} \rightarrow \mathbb{R} for which there exists a function f:RRf: \mathbb{R} \rightarrow \mathbb{R} such that for every x,yRx, y \in \mathbb{R}
g(f(x)+y)=g(x)+g(y)+yf(x+f(x)) g(f(x)+y)=g(x)+g(y)+y f(x+f(x))

Solution

Solution:
First observe that g(x)=0g(x)=0 and g(x)=x2g(x)=x^{2} are solutions. Indeed, both are even functions. For g(x)=0g(x)=0, one can take f(x)=0f(x)=0 (or any function ff such that f(x+f(x))=0f(x+f(x))=0). For g(x)=x2g(x)=x^{2}, one can take f(x)=xf(x)=x, because (x+y)2=x2+y2+2xy(x+y)^{2}=x^{2}+y^{2}+2 x y.

We now prove that these are the only solutions. Let gg be a solution of the problem and ff be an associated function. We start with a bunch of substitutions. Let y=0y=0 which gives
g(f(x))=g(x)+g(0) g(f(x))=g(x)+g(0)
Let further y=f(x)y=-f(x) in the original equation and use the parity of gg to get g(0)=g(x)+g(f(x))f(x)f(x+f(x))g(0)=g(x)+g(f(x))-f(x) f(x+f(x)). If we plug (1) in, we get
2g(x)=f(x)f(x+f(x)) 2 g(x)=f(x) f(x+f(x))
We replace yy by f(y)f(y) in the original equation and use (1) to obtain g(f(x)+f(y))=g(x)+g(y)+g(0)+f(y)f(x+f(x))g(f(x)+f(y))=g(x)+g(y)+g(0)+f(y) f(x+f(x)). The symmetry between xx and yy implies
f(y)f(x+f(x))=f(x)f(y+f(y)) f(y) f(x+f(x))=f(x) f(y+f(y))
If f0f \equiv 0, then g0g \equiv 0. So, if we assume that gg is not the constant 00 function (which we know is a solution), then there exists aa such that f(a)0f(a) \neq 0. Let c=f(a+f(a))/f(a)c=f(a+f(a)) / f(a). We have, with y=ay=a in (3), f(x+f(x))=cf(x)f(x+f(x))=c f(x) and using (2) we obtain
2g(x)=cf(x)2 2 g(x)=c f(x)^{2}
Since we assumed gg is not identically 00, it holds c0c \neq 0. We plug (4) in the original equation and use f(x+f(x))=cf(x)f(x+f(x))=c f(x) to obtain, after simplifying by cc,
f(f(x)+y)2=f(x)2+f(y)2+2yf(x) f(f(x)+y)^{2}=f(x)^{2}+f(y)^{2}+2 y f(x)
If one lets x=yx=y in (5), then one obtains
f(x)(f(x)(c22)2x)=0 f(x)\left(f(x)\left(c^{2}-2\right)-2 x\right)=0
If c2=2c^{2}=2, then f(x)=0f(x)=0 for all x0x \neq 0. In particular, one must have a=0a=0 and f(0)=f(a)0f(0)=f(a) \neq 0. But then c=f(f(0))/f(0)=0c=f(f(0)) / f(0)=0 since f(0)0f(0) \neq 0. Contradiction. Hence c22c^{2} \neq 2, and for every xx,
f(x)=0orf(x)=2x/(c22) f(x)=0 \quad \text{or} \quad f(x)=2 x /\left(c^{2}-2\right)
In particular, f(0)=0f(0)=0. Let b:=2/(c22)0b:=2 /\left(c^{2}-2\right) \neq 0 such that f(x)=bxf(x)=b x if f(x)0f(x) \neq 0. Since f(a)0f(a) \neq 0, we have f(a)=abf(a)=a b and a0a \neq 0. Assume there is t0t \neq 0 such that f(t)=0f(t)=0, then, with x=ax=a and y=ty=t in (5), we get
f(ab+t)2=a2b2+2tab f(a b+t)^{2}=a^{2} b^{2}+2 t a b
Because t0t \neq 0, we must have f(ab+t)=0f(a b+t)=0 and thus ab+2t=0a b+2 t=0. So there is at most one t0t \neq 0, such that f(t)=0f(t)=0, namely t=ab/2t=-a b / 2. But if such a tt exists, then f(ab+t)=0f(a b+t)=0 and ab+tta b+t \neq t and ab+t0a b+t \neq 0, contradiction. So, f(x)=bxf(x)=b x for all xx and g(x)=cb2/2x2g(x)=c b^{2} / 2 \cdot x^{2} for all xx by (4). We plug this in the original equation and deduce that b=1b=1 and c=2c=2 (using that c0c \neq 0). Therefore, we proved that if gg is not identically 00, then g(x)=x2g(x)=x^{2} for every xx.

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