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Algebra Difficulty 6.0 National Olympiad Prove it Belarus

Find all pairs (f,h)(f, h) of functions ff and hh, f:RRf : \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}, h:RRh : \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}, such that the equality f(x2+yh(x))=xh(x)+f(xy)f(x^2 + y h(x)) = x h(x) + f(xy) holds for all real xx and yy.

Solution

Answer: either f(x)=cf(x) = c, h(x)={0,x0,a,x=0,h(x) = \begin{cases} 0, & x \neq 0, \\ a, & x = 0, \end{cases} where aa and cc are arbitrary constants or f(x)=x+bf(x) = x + b, h(x)=xh(x) = x, where bb is an arbitrary constant.

Let h(0)=ah(0) = a. Set x=0x = 0 in the initial equation
f(x2+yh(x))=xh(x)+f(xy)for all x,yR.() f(x^2 + y h(x)) = x h(x) + f(xy) \quad \text{for all } x, y \in \mathbb{R}. \quad (*)
We obtain f(ay)=f(0)=cf(a y) = f(0) = c for all yy.
If a0a \neq 0, then aya y admits all real values, so the function f(x)=cf(x) = c is identically constant. So the equation has the form c=xh(x)+cc = x h(x) + c or xh(x)=0x h(x) = 0, therefore h(x)=0h(x) = 0 for x0x \neq 0, and h(0)=ah(0) = a admits any value. As it is easy to verify the obtained pair of the functions (f(x),h(x))(f(x), h(x)) satisfies ()(*).

Let a=0a = 0, i.e. h(0)=0h(0) = 0. Note that if h(x0)x0h(x_0) \neq x_0 for some x0x_0 (x00x_0 \neq 0), then there exists y0y_0 such that x02+y0h(x0)=x0y0x_0^2 + y_0 h(x_0) = x_0 y_0 (indeed, it suffices to set y0=x02/(x0h(x0))y_0 = x_0^2/(x_0 - h(x_0))). Setting x=x0x = x_0, y=y0y = y_0, in the initial equation, we obtain x0h(x0)=0x_0 h(x_0) = 0, i.e. h(x0)=0h(x_0) = 0. Now setting x=x0x = x_0 in the initial equation, we have f(x02)=f(x0y)f(x_0^2) = f(x_0 y) for all yy. Since x00x_0 \neq 0, we see that x0yx_0 y admits any real values, so f(x)=cf(x) = c is identically constant. But this case is already considered above.

It remains to suppose that h(x)=xh(x) = x for all xx. Then ()(*) can be rewritten in the form
f(x2+yx)=x2+f(xy)for all x,yR.() f(x^2 + y x) = x^2 + f(x y) \quad \text{for all } x, y \in \mathbb{R}. \quad (**)
Let f(0)=bf(0) = b. Setting y=0y = 0 in ()(**), we obtain f(x2)=x2+bf(x^2) = x^2 + b for all xx, i.e. f(x)=x+bf(x) = x + b for all nonnegative xx. If we set y=xy = -x, then we obtain f(x2)=x2+bf(-x^2) = -x^2 + b, i.e. f(x)=x+bf(x) = x + b for all nonpositive xx.

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