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Algebra Difficulty 6.4 National Olympiad Prove it Switzerland

Problem:
Let DD be the set of real numbers excluding 1-1. Find all functions f:DDf: D \rightarrow D such that for all x,yDx, y \in D satisfying x0x \neq 0 and yxy \neq -x, the equality
(f(f(x))+y)f(yx)+f(f(y))=x (f(f(x)) + y) f\left(\frac{y}{x}\right) + f(f(y)) = x
holds.

Solution

Solution:
Plugging in x=y0x = y \neq 0 yields f(f(x))=αxf(f(x)) = \alpha x for some constant α\alpha. This holds for all x0,1x \neq 0, -1. If α\alpha was any real number different from 00 or 11, we would get f(f(1/α))=1f(f(-1/\alpha)) = -1, which is a contradiction. Hence, only α=0\alpha = 0 or α=1\alpha = 1 are possible. In the former case x=1,y=0x = 1, y = 0 gives a contradiction, so f(f(x))=xf(f(x)) = x for all xD,x0x \in D, x \neq 0.

Letting x=1,y=f(1)x = 1, y = f(1) gives f(1)=0f(1) = 0 and so f(0)=1f(0) = 1. Now, for all other xx, we can plug in 1x\frac{1}{x} instead of xx and y=1y = 1 to obtain f(x)=1x1+xf(x) = \frac{1-x}{1+x} (this formula now also works for x=0x = 0), and we can verify that this is indeed a solution:
f(f(x))=11x1+x1+1x1+x=1x(1x)1+x+1x=x f(f(x)) = \frac{1 - \frac{1-x}{1+x}}{1 + \frac{1-x}{1+x}} = \frac{1-x - (1-x)}{1+x + 1-x} = x
and thus
(f(f(x))+y)f(yx)+f(f(y))=(x+y)f(yx)+y=(x+y)1yx1+yx+y=xy+y=x (f(f(x)) + y) f\left(\frac{y}{x}\right) + f(f(y)) = (x + y) f\left(\frac{y}{x}\right) + y = (x + y) \frac{1 - \frac{y}{x}}{1 + \frac{y}{x}} + y = x - y + y = x

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.