AlgebraDifficulty 8.2ShortlistProve itSouth Africa
Find all functions f:Z→Z such that, for all integers a, b, and c satisfying a+b+c=0, the following equality holds: f(a)2+f(b)2+f(c)2=2f(a)f(b)+2f(b)f(c)+2f(c)f(a).
Solution
Substituting a=b=c=0 yields 3f(0)2=6f(0)2 which implies f(0)=0. Now we can place b=−a, c=0 to obtain f(a)2+f(−a)2=2f(a)f(−a), or, equivalently (f(a)−f(−a))2=0 which implies f(a)=f(−a).
Assume now that f(a)=0 for some a∈Z. Then for any b we have a+b+(−a−b)=0 hence f(a)2+f(b)2+f(a+b)2=2f(b)f(a+b), which is equivalent to (f(b)−f(a+b))2=0, or f(a+b)=f(b). Therefore if f(a)=0 for some a=0, then f is a periodic function with period a.
Placing b=a and c=2a in the original equation yields f(2a)⋅(f(2a)−4f(a))=0. Choosing a=1 we get f(2)=0 or f(2)=4f(1).
If f(2)=0, then f is periodic with period 2 and we must have f(n)=f(1) for all odd n. It is easy to verify that for each c∈Z the function f(x)={0,c,2∣n,2∤n satisfies the conditions of the problem.
Assume now that f(2)=4f(1) and that f(1)=0. Assume that f(i)=i2⋅f(1) holds for all i∈{1,2,…,n} (it certainly does for i∈{0,1,2}). We place a=1, b=n, c=−n−1 in the original equation to obtain: f(1)2+n4f(1)2+f(n+1)2=2n2f(1)2+2(n2+1)f(n+1)f(1)⇔(f(n+1)−(n+1)2f(1))⋅(f(n+1)−(n−1)2f(1))=0. If f(n+1)=(n−1)2f(1) then setting a=n+1, b=1−n, and c=−2 in the original equation yields 2(n−1)4f(1)2+16f(1)2=2⋅4⋅2(n−1)2f(1)2+2⋅(n−1)4f(1) which implies (n−1)2=1 hence n=2. Therefore f(3)=f(1). Placing a=1, b=3, and c=4 into the original equation implies that f(4)=0 or f(4)=4f(1)=f(2). If f(4)=0 we get f(2)2+f(2)2+f(4)2=2f(2)2+4f(2)f(4) hence f(4)=4f(2). We already have that f(4)=f(2) and this implies that f(2)=0, which is impossible according to our assumption.
Therefore f(4)=0 and the function f has period 4. Then f(4k)=0, f(4k+1)=f(4k+3)=c, and f(4k+2)=4c. It is easy to verify that this function satisfies the requirements of the problem.
The remaining case is f(n)=n2f(1) for all n∈N, or f(n)=cn2 for some c∈Z. This function satisfies the given condition.
Thus the solutions are: f(x)=cx2 for some c∈Z; f(x)={0,c,2∣n,2∤n for some c∈Z; and f(x)=⎩⎨⎧0,c,4c,4∣n,2∤n,n≡2(mod4) for some c∈Z.
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