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Belarus — Final Round

Algebra Difficulty 5.8 AIME, harder Prove it Belarus

Does there exist a function ff, f:R→Rf: \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}, such that
{{f(x)}sin⁡2x+{x}cos⁡f(x)cos⁡x=f(x),f(f(x))=f(x), \begin{cases} \{f(x)\} \sin^2 x + \{x\} \cos f(x) \cos x = f(x), \\ f(f(x)) = f(x), \end{cases}
for all real xx.
(Here {y}\{y\} stands for the fractional part of yy.)

Solution

Assume that there exists a function f(x)f(x) satisfying the problem condition:
{{f(x)}sin⁡2x+{x}cos⁡f(x)cos⁡x=f(x),f(f(x))=f(x), \begin{cases} \{f(x)\} \sin^2 x + \{x\} \cos f(x) \cos x = f(x), \\ f(f(x)) = f(x), \end{cases}
for all real xx.
Replacing xx by f(x)f(x) in the first equality, we obtain
{f(f(x))}sin⁡2f(x)+{f(x)}cos⁡2f(x)=f(f(x)). \{f(f(x))\} \sin^2 f(x) + \{f(x)\} \cos^2 f(x) = f(f(x)).
Since f(f(x))=f(x)f(f(x)) = f(x), from the obtained equality it follows that {f(x)}=f(x)\{f(x)\} = f(x). So f:R→[0;1]f: \mathbb{R} \rightarrow [0; 1].
Replacing xx by π\pi, we have −{π}cos⁡f(π)=f(π)-\{\pi\} \cos f(\pi) = f(\pi). Since f(π)∈[0,1]f(\pi) \in [0, 1] and {π}≠0\{\pi\} \neq 0, we see that the left-hand side of the last equality is negative, whereas the right-hand side is nonnegative, a contradiction.

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