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Algebra Difficulty 7.4 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it Japan

Determine all the real-valued functions ff defined on the real line, which satisfies for all real numbers xx and yy
f(x+y)f(f(x)y)=xf(x)yf(y). f(x+y)f(f(x)-y) = xf(x) - yf(y).

Solution

Let f(0)=af(0) = a and in the given functional equation
f(x+y)f(f(x)y)=xf(x)yf(y)(1) f(x+y)f(f(x)-y) = xf(x) - yf(y) \quad (1)
substitute x=y=0x = y = 0, then we get
f(0)f(a)=0, f(0)f(a) = 0,
from which we obtain f(0)=0f(0) = 0 or f(a)=0f(a) = 0. Since f(0)=0f(0) = 0 implies that a=0a = 0 by definition, we see that f(a)=0f(a) = 0 always holds.
Let tt be an arbitrary real number. By substituting x=0,y=tx = 0, y = t, into (1), we obtain
f(t)f(at)=tf(t)(2) f(t)f(a-t) = -tf(t) \quad (2)
from which we can conclude that either f(t)=0f(t) = 0 or f(at)=tf(a-t) = -t holds. Therefore, if u0u \neq 0 and f(u)0f(u) \neq 0, then since f(au)=u0f(a-u) = -u \neq 0, by substituting t=aut = a-u we obtain f(u)=uaf(u) = u-a. Consequently, we get the implication
u0[f(u)=0 or f(u)=ua](3) u \neq 0 \Rightarrow [f(u) = 0 \text{ or } f(u) = u-a] \quad (3)
Let us first consider the case where f(u)=0f(u) = 0 holds for every u0u \neq 0. We will show that such an ff satisfies the functional equation (1). If a=0a = 0, then the function ff is the identically zero function, and it is obvious that the equation (1) is satisfied in this case. So, let us suppose that a0a \neq 0. Since vf(v)=0vf(v) = 0 holds for all vv by the right-hand side of the functional equation (1) is always 0. On the other hand, the left-hand side of (1) is 0\neq 0 only when both x+y=0x+y=0 and f(x)y=0f(x)-y=0 are satisfied. We will show this cannot happen. For, if x=y=0x=y=0, then f(x)y=f(0)=a0f(x)-y=f(0)=a \neq 0, while if 0x=y0 \neq x = -y, then f(x)y=y0f(x)-y=-y \neq 0. Therefore, the left-hand side of (1) is always 0 also, and thus our function ff satisfies (1).
Next we consider the case where there exists u0u \neq 0 for which f(u)0f(u) \neq 0. Let us denote one such uu by bb. If we substitute x=a,y=bx = a, y = -b in the equation (1), we get f(ab)f(b)=bf(b)f(a-b)f(b) = bf(-b), while by (2) we have f(b)f(ab)=bf(b)f(b)f(a-b) = -bf(b), and since b0b \neq 0, we conclude that
f(b)=f(b)0(4) f(-b) = -f(b) \neq 0 \quad (4)
We also have, in view of (3) that
f(b)=ba,f(b)=ba.(5) f(b) = b - a, \quad f(-b) = -b - a. \quad (5)
Combining (4) and (5), we get that a=0a = 0, and therefore, f(b)=bf(b) = b. We now show that f(x)=xf(x) = x must hold for all xx in this case. So, suppose that there

exists a cc for which f(c)cf(c) \neq c. Since f(0)=a=0f(0) = a = 0. c0c \neq 0, and hence we have by (3) f(c)=0f(c) = 0. By substituting x=bx = b and y=cy = c in (1), we obtain
f(b+c)f(bc)=b2.(6) f(b+c)f(b-c) = b^2. \quad (6)
Since, b0b \neq 0, f(b+c)0f(b+c) \neq 0, f(bc)0f(b-c) \neq 0 must hold. As f(0)=0f(0) = 0, we also have b+c0b+c \neq 0 and bc0b-c \neq 0. If we apply (3) to u=b+cu = b+c and u=bcu = b-c, we conclude that f(b+c)=b+cf(b+c) = b+c and f(bc)=bcf(b-c) = b-c and therefore, f(b+c)f(bc)=b2c2f(b+c)f(b-c) = b^2-c^2. However, since c0c \neq 0, this contradicts (6). Thus, we conclude that if there exists a b0b \neq 0 for which f(b)0f(b) \neq 0, then f(x)=xf(x) = x for all xx. It is easy to check that the function f(x)=xf(x) = x satisfies the functional equation (1).
As we covered all the possibilities we conclude that the only functions ff that satisfy the functional equation (1) are:
f(x)=x f(x) = x
and
f(x)=a (if x=0); 0 (if x0), f(x) = a \text{ (if } x = 0\text{); } 0 \text{ (if } x \neq 0\text{)},
where aa can be an arbitrary real number.

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