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Algebra Difficulty 5.8 AIME, harder Prove it Brazil

Find all surjective functions f:(0,+)(0,+)f: (0, +\infty) \to (0, +\infty) such that
2xf(f(x))=(f(f(x))+x)f(x) 2x \cdot f(f(x)) = (f(f(x)) + x) \cdot f(x)
for all x(0,+)x \in (0, +\infty).

A function f:ABf: A \to B is said to be surjective iff the range of ff is BB, that is, for all yBy \in B there exists xAx \in A such that f(x)=yf(x) = y.

Solution

First let's prove that ff is injective: suppose that f(a)=f(b)f(a) = f(b). Then
2af(f(a))2bf(f(b))=f(a)(a+f(f(a)))f(b)(b+f(f(b)))    ab=a+f(f(a))b+f(f(b))=f(f(a))f(f(b))=1    a=b. \begin{aligned} \frac{2a f(f(a))}{2b f(f(b))} &= \frac{f(a)(a+f(f(a)))}{f(b)(b+f(f(b)))} \\ &\iff \frac{a}{b} = \frac{a+f(f(a))}{b+f(f(b))} = \frac{f(f(a))}{f(f(b))} = 1 \\ &\iff a = b. \end{aligned}

Then ff is invertible. Since the given equation is equivalent to
2f(x)=1x+1f(f(x)), \frac{2}{f(x)} = \frac{1}{x} + \frac{1}{f(f(x))},
defining 1f(n)(x)=an, nZ\frac{1}{f^{(n)}(x)} = a_n,\ n \in \mathbb{Z}, we have, plugging xf(n)(x)x \to f^{(n)}(x),
2an+1=an+an+2    an+2an+1=an+1an, 2a_{n+1} = a_n + a_{n+2} \iff a_{n+2} - a_{n+1} = a_{n+1} - a_n,
that is, ana_n is an arithmetic progression. Since an>0a_n > 0 for all n,xn, x, it has to be constant, and a1=a0    1f(x)=1x    f(x)=xa_1 = a_0 \iff \frac{1}{f(x)} = \frac{1}{x} \iff f(x) = x, which can be easily verified to satisfy the equation.

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