Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 5.2 AIME, harder Prove it Taiwan

Let ZZ denote the set of all integers and let n1n \ge 1 be an odd integer. Find all functions f:ZZf: Z \to Z such that for any integers x,yx, y, (f(x)f(y))(f(x) - f(y)) divides (xnyn)(x^n - y^n).

Solution

Answer: f(x)=ϵxd+cf(x) = \epsilon x^d + c, where ϵ{1,1}\epsilon \in \{-1, 1\}, the positive integer dd is a divisor of nn, and cc is an integer.
All functions ff satisfying the conditions of the problem are exactly the above.

Let the function ff be a solution satisfying the conditions of the problem. For any integer nn, define the function g(x)=f(x)+ng(x) = f(x) + n, which also satisfies the conditions of the problem. We may assume f(0)=0f(0) = 0.

For any prime pp, taking (x,y)=(p,0)(x, y) = (p, 0) gives f(p)pnf(p)|p^n. Since there are infinitely many primes, there exist an integer dd and ϵ\epsilon with 0dn0 \le d \le n, ϵ{1,1}\epsilon \in \{-1, 1\} such that there are infinitely many primes pp satisfying f(p)=ϵpdf(p) = \epsilon p^d. Denote the set PP as follows:
P={p is primef(p)=ϵpd}. P = \{p \text{ is prime} \mid f(p) = \epsilon p^d\}.
Since the function gg satisfies the conditions of the problem if and only if (g)(-g) also satisfies the conditions of the problem, we may assume ϵ=1\epsilon = 1.

Exclude the case d=0d=0. Assume d1d \ge 1 and n=md+rn = md + r, where mm and rr are integers such that m1m \ge 1 and 0rd10 \le r \le d-1. Let xx be an arbitrary integer. For a prime pp in the set PP, (f(p)f(x))(pnxn)(f(p) - f(x))|(p^n - x^n). Using the equality f(p)=pdf(p) = p^d, we obtain
pnxn=pr(pd)mxnpr(f(x))mxn0(modpdf(x)). p^n - x^n = p^r(p^d)^m - x^n \equiv p^r(f(x))^m - x^n \equiv 0 \pmod{p^d - f(x)}.
Since r<dr < d, for sufficiently large primes pp in PP, we have
pr(f(x))mxn<pdf(x). |p^r(f(x))^m - x^n| < p^d - f(x).
Therefore pr(f(x))mxn=0p^r(f(x))^m - x^n = 0. From this we can deduce: r=0r=0 and xn=(xd)m=(f(x))mx^n = (x^d)^m = (f(x))^m.
Since mm is odd, we get f(x)=xdf(x) = x^d.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement translated into English from zh; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.