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Algebra Difficulty 8.1 Shortlist Prove it Vietnam

Given a real number α\alpha and consider function φ(x)=x2eαx\varphi(x) = x^2 e^{\alpha x} for all real numbers xx. Find all functions f:RRf: \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R} that satisfy
f(φ(x)+f(y))=y+φ(f(x)) f(\varphi(x) + f(y)) = y + \varphi(f(x))
for all real numbers x,yx, y.

Solution

Denote φ(f(0))=c\varphi(f(0)) = c. Clearly, ff is a bijective because
f(f(y))=y+c. f(f(y)) = y + c.
Replacing yy by f(y)f(y) in the relation, we have
f(y+c)=f(y)+c. f(y + c) = f(y) + c.
Because ff is a bijective then there exists a real number dd that f(d)=0f(d) = 0. Replacing (x,y)(x, y) by (d,y+c)(d, y + c), we get
f(φ(d)+f(y+c))=y+c. f(\varphi(d) + f(y + c)) = y + c.
Note that ff is an injective, it implies that
φ(d)+f(y)+c=φ(d)+f(y+c)=φ(d)+f(y+c)=f(y), \varphi(d) + f(y) + c = \varphi(d) + f(y + c) = \varphi(d) + f(y + c) = f(y),
which means
φ(d)+c=0. \varphi(d) + c = 0.
On the other hand, because φ(x)0\varphi(x) \ge 0 and the equality only happens when x=0x = 0, thus
f(0)=d=0. f(0) = d = 0.

Hence, f(f(y))=yf(f(y)) = y and replace y=0y = 0 in the original equation, we get
f(φ(x))=φ(f(x)) f(\varphi(x)) = \varphi(f(x))
but it is clear that φ(x)0\varphi(x) \ge 0 for all xx, which leads to f(t)0,t0f(t) \ge 0, \forall t \ge 0. Replacing yy by f(y)f(y) and φ(x)=t0\varphi(x) = t \ge 0 for any arbitrary t0t \ge 0, we obtain
f(y+t)=f(y)+f(t),t0. f(y+t) = f(y) + f(t), \forall t \ge 0.
Therefore, for all pairs (x,y)R×R(x, y) \in \mathbb{R} \times \mathbb{R} and tmax(y,0)t \ge \max(-y, 0), we have
f(x+y)+f(t)=f(x+y+t)=f(x)+f(y+t)=f(x)+f(y)+f(t) f(x+y)+f(t) = f(x+y+t) = f(x)+f(y+t) = f(x)+f(y)+f(t)
or ff is additive. We also have proved that f(x)0f(x) \ge 0 for all real numbers xx, it implies that f(x)=kxf(x) = kx for all xRx \in \mathbb{R}. By replacing f(x)=kxf(x) = kx in the original equation, we can find that k=1k = 1. Thus, f(x)=xf(x) = x for all real numbers xx. \square

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