Let be the set of nonnegative integers. Find all functions satisfying the equation
for all such that .
Solutions — 2
Solution 1
Observe that since by definition, is a solution. Now suppose that for some , .
As for all , is onto for all . Therefore for all .
Since we have and for all , it follows that for all , in other words, for all .
Let be the least integer such that for all . (We have ). We will show that for all .
Suppose, for the sake of contradiction, that for some and . Now suppose that there exists such that . For clarity, let for some . Since , and , we have . Since , is either or . However, if , will be equal to , which contradicts the minimality of . Thus if such a exists, then .
Back to , since , we have , but since and , there must be some such that . By the previous paragraph, where , we have , and . Therefore . Therefore , which is impossible, so we have a contradiction. Hence for all .
actually satisfies the given condition. If , the given condition reduces to , which is true, while if , we have , thus . Hence this function satisfies the given condition, and our proof is complete.
Solution 2
(by Wijit Yangjit)
As in Solution 1, observe that is a solution, and if for some , we have for all big enough . Define as in Solution 1.
If for some , , then , so , so , which is a contradiction. Thus for all .
We will prove, by induction, that for all . For , contradicts the minimality of , so .
Now suppose that for some .
If , then . Else we have , which implies because .
Therefore by induction, for all .
Now suppose that for some , we will have , which contradicts with the previous paragraph, so for all . We can check our answer as in Solution 1.
As in Solution 1, observe that is a solution, and if for some , we have for all big enough .
Denote by the statement that . We will show that if then . (This will be called property 1.) This is easy: from and , where the middle equality is true because .
We define as in Solution 1. We want to show that for all . Now suppose for the sake of contradiction that for some . From , , but from for all , , so
Since for all , using property 1 repeatedly will yield , which contradicts the minimality of . Therefore for all . We can check our answer as in Solution 1.