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Algebra Difficulty 8.6 Shortlist Prove it United States

Let f:RZf: \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{Z} be a function satisfying
f(xy)2f(x)+f(x+y)1 f(x - y) - 2f(x) + f(x + y) \geq -1
for all x,yRx, y \in \mathbb{R}. Find all possible values of the set {f(x)xR}\{f(x) \mid x \in \mathbb{R}\}.

Solution

The answer is {a}\{a\}, {a,a+1}\{a, a+1\}, {a,a+1,a+2,}\{a, a+1, a+2, \dots\}, and Z\mathbb{Z}, for arbitrary aZa \in \mathbb{Z}. For constructions, it is not hard to show that if g:RRg: \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R} is a convex function, then g\lfloor g \rfloor satisfies the functional equation. Thus f(x)=af(x) = a, f(x)=xf(x) = \lfloor x \rfloor, and f(x)=x2+af(x) = \lfloor x^2 \rfloor + a work, covering the first, fourth, and third class of answers respectively. Furthermore, it is not hard to show that f(x)=a+1x>0f(x) = a + \mathbf{1}_{x>0} also works to cover the second class.

Let P(x,y)P(x, y) denote the condition. To prove that nothing else works, the key result is to prove an "intermediate value theorem": if aa and bb are in the range of ff, then so is every integer between aa and bb. Let's first see how this finishes. If we assume the intermediate value theorem, then all we need to show is that if the range of ff is at least 2, then the range of ff is unbounded above. Indeed, if f(x)f(y)2f(x) - f(y) \ge 2, then P(x,yx)P(x, y - x) gives us that f(2xy)>f(x)f(2x - y) > f(x), so iterating this procedure finishes.

We will now prove the intermediate value theorem. We will repeatedly use the fact that if f(x)f(x) is a solution, so is f(ax+b)+cf(ax + b) + c for a,bRa, b \in \mathbb{R} and cZc \in \mathbb{Z}.

Lemma 1.1
If f(0)1f(0) \le -1, then f(2k)2kf(1)f(2^k) \ge 2^k f(1) for k0k \ge 0.
Proof. P(2k,2k)P(2^k, 2^k) yields that f(2k+1)2f(2k)f(2^{k+1}) \ge 2f(2^k). \square

Lemma 1.2
If f(1)2f(-1) \le -2 and f(0)=0f(0) = 0, then f(2k)2k1f(2^k) \ge 2^k - 1 for all positive integers kk.
Proof. Applying Lemma 1.1 to f(x1)+1f(x-1)+1 yields that f(2k1)2k1f(2^k-1) \ge 2^k-1. Then, applying Lemma 1.1 to f(2kx)f(2k)1f(2^k-x) - f(2^k)-1 yields that
f(0)f(2k)12k(f(2k1)f(2k)1)    f(2k)+12kf(2k1)2k12k. f(0) - f(2^k) - 1 \ge 2^k(f(2^k - 1) - f(2^k) - 1) \implies f(2^k) + 1 \ge \frac{2^k f(2^k - 1)}{2^k - 1} \ge 2^k. \quad \square

Now to prove the intermediate value theorem, scale and shift such that f(1)2f(-1) \le -2 and f(0)=0f(0) = 0; it suffices to show that there exists some number strictly between f(1)f(-1) and f(0)f(0) in the range of ff (since by iteration we can then get all values). Suppose not and let ak=f(1/2k)a_k = f(-1/2^k). If kk is minimal such that ak0a_k \ge 0, then P(1/2k,1/2k)P(-1/2^k, 1/2^k) yields a contradiction. Thus ak2a_k \le -2 for all kk. However, applying Lemma 1.2 to f(x/2k)f(x/2^k) yields that ak2    f(1)2k1a_k \le -2 \implies f(1) \ge 2^k - 1, which cannot hold for all kk since f(1)f(1) is constant.

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