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Algebra Difficulty 7.3 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it Ukraine

Find all bijections f:(0,+)(0,+)f: (0, +\infty) \to (0, +\infty) such that, for any x,y>0x, y > 0 the following is satisfied:

f(xf(x)+yf(y))=f2(x)+f2(y).f(xf(x) + yf(y)) = f^2(x) + f^2(y).
(Oleksii Masalitin, Fedir Yudin)

Solution

Denote the statement by PP, and let P(x,y)P(x, y) denote the substitutions into it.
Let aa be the real number such that f(a)=1f(a) = 1. Let SS denote the set of x>0x > 0 such that f(ax)=xf(ax) = x. Then 1S1 \in S. We prove several lemmas:

Lemma 1. If xSx \in S, then 2x2S2x^2 \in S.
*Proof.* Use P(ax,ax)P(ax, ax): f(a2x2)=2x22x2Sf(a2x^2) = 2x^2 \Rightarrow 2x^2 \in S.

Lemma 2. If xSx \in S, then x2S\sqrt{\frac{x}{2}} \in S.
*Proof.* Denote by x0x_0 the real number that satisfies f(x0)=x2f(x_0) = \sqrt{\frac{x}{2}}. Use P(x0,x0)P(x_0, x_0): f(x02x)=x=f(ax)f(x_0\sqrt{2}x) = x = f(ax), so x02x=axx_0\sqrt{2}x = ax. We get x0=ax2x_0 = a\sqrt{\frac{x}{2}} and f(ax2)=x2f(a\sqrt{\frac{x}{2}}) = \sqrt{\frac{x}{2}}, so x2S\sqrt{\frac{x}{2}} \in S.

Lemma 3. If x,ySx, y \in S, then 12(x+y)S\frac{1}{2}(x + y) \in S.
*Proof.* From Lemma 2 we have x2,y2S\sqrt{\frac{x}{2}}, \sqrt{\frac{y}{2}} \in S. Use P(ax2,ay2)f(12a(x+y))=12(x+y)P(a\sqrt{\frac{x}{2}}, a\sqrt{\frac{y}{2}}) \Rightarrow f(\frac{1}{2}a(x + y)) = \frac{1}{2}(x + y).

Lemma 4. The function xxf(x)x \mapsto xf(x) is a surjection.
*Proof.* Use P(x,x)P(x, x) and get f(2xf(x))=2f2(x)f(2xf(x)) = 2f^2(x). Consider arbitrary x>0x > 0. Take yy such that f(y)=12f(2x)f(y) = \sqrt{\frac{1}{2}f(2x)}. Substitute it into the last equality to get f(2yf(y))=f(2x)yf(y)=xf(2yf(y)) = f(2x) \Rightarrow yf(y) = x, as desired.

Lemma 5. If xf(x)>yf(y)xf(x) > yf(y), then f(x)>f(y)f(x) > f(y).
*Proof.* Suppose the contrary, let xf(x)>yf(y)xf(x) > yf(y), but f(x)f(y)f(x) \le f(y). Since xyx \ne y, we have f(x)<f(y)f(x) < f(y). Choose real tt with xf(x)>t>yf(y)xf(x) > t > yf(y). Then there is a real uu such that uf(u)+yf(y)=tuf(u) + yf(y) = t. Then f(uf(u)+yf(y))=f(t)=f2(u)+f2(y)>f2(y)>f2(x)f(uf(u) + yf(y)) = f(t) = f^2(u) + f^2(y) > f^2(y) > f^2(x). Then there is a real vv such that f(t)=f2(v)+f2(x)=f(xf(x)+vf(v))f(t) = f^2(v) + f^2(x) = f(xf(x) + vf(v)). From here we get t=xf(x)+vf(v)>xf(x)t = xf(x) + vf(v) > xf(x), which is a contradiction, and the proof of the lemma is complete.

Lemma 6. The function xf(x)x \mapsto f(x) is increasing on (0,+)(0, +\infty).
*Proof.* It suffices to prove that for any positive a,b,ca, b, c with b>cb > c we have f(a+b)>f(a+c)f(a + b) > f(a + c). Consider x,y,zx, y, z such that a=xf(x),b=yf(y)a = xf(x), b = yf(y), and c=zf(z)c = zf(z). Since b>cb > c, we have f(y)>f(z)f(y) > f(z). Then
f(a+b)=f(xf(x)+yf(y))=f2(x)+f2(y)>f2(x)+f2(z)=f(xf(x)+zf(z))=f(a+c), \begin{aligned} f(a + b) &= f(xf(x) + yf(y)) = f^2(x) + f^2(y) > f^2(x) + f^2(z) \\ &= f(xf(x) + zf(z)) = f(a + c), \end{aligned}
as desired.

From Lemma 1, 21S2^1 \in S, 23S2^3 \in S, 27S2^7 \in S, etc., so SS contains arbitrary large reals. Let us prove that SS contains arbitrary small (close to zero) reals. Consider arbitrary ε>0\varepsilon > 0. It suffices to prove that xS:0<x<ε\exists x \in S: 0 < x < \varepsilon. From Lemma 2, we have that 2n12S2^{\frac{n-1}{2}} \in S if 2nS2^n \in S. Since 20S2^0 \in S, we have 2121S2^{\frac{1}{2}-1} \in S, 2141S2^{\frac{1}{4}-1} \in S, 2181S2^{\frac{1}{8}-1} \in S, etc., so there is xS:12<x<12+ε2x \in S: \frac{1}{2} < x < \frac{1}{2} + \varepsilon^2. Denote by x0x_0 the real such that f(x0)=x12f(x_0) = \sqrt{x - \frac{1}{2}}. Use P(x0,12a)P(x_0, \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}a). Since 12S\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}} \in S, we have f(a2+x0x12)=x=f(ax)f(\frac{a}{2} + x_0\sqrt{x - \frac{1}{2}}) = x = f(ax). This means a2+x0x12=x\frac{a}{2} + x_0\sqrt{x - \frac{1}{2}} = x.

Therefore x12S\sqrt{x - \frac{1}{2}} \in S and x12<ε\sqrt{x - \frac{1}{2}} < \varepsilon. We have proven that SS contains arbitrarily large and arbitrarily small numbers.

Suppose that xSx \notin S. Let us prove that there is ySy \in S, lying between xx and f(ax)f(ax). Suppose otherwise. We've proven that there are y1,y2Sy_1, y_2 \in S such that y1<x,f(ax)<y2y_1 < x, f(ax) < y_2. Consider the following process: given z1,z2Sz_1, z_2 \in S such that z1<x,f(ax)<z2z_1 < x, f(ax) < z_2, consider z3z_3, the midpoint of [z1,z2][z_1, z_2]. By Lemma 3, it lies in SS and by our assumption is not between xx and f(ax)f(ax). This means that the closed interval between xx and f(ax)f(ax) lies entirely either in [z1,z3][z_1, z_3] or [z3,z2][z_3, z_2]. Then we can choose one of these intervals and repeat the operation. Since after each step the length of the interval halves, it will eventually be smaller than the length of the interval between xx and f(ax)f(ax), leading to a contradiction.

Thus, there is ySy \in S between xx and f(ax)f(ax). Since ff is increasing, 0>(xy)(f(ax)y)=(xy)(f(ax)f(ay))>00 > (x - y)(f(ax) - y) = (x - y)(f(ax) - f(ay)) > 0. This contradiction proves that S=(0,+)S = (0, +\infty), so f(x)=xaf(x) = \frac{x}{a}. It's easy to check that all functions of the form f(x)=cxf(x) = cx with c>0c > 0 satisfy the statement.

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