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Selection tests for the Balkan Mathematical Olympiad, 2013

Algebra Difficulty 7.5 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Saudi Arabia

Find all functions f:R→Rf: \mathbb{R} \rightarrow \mathbb{R} which satisfy for all x,y∈Rx, y \in \mathbb{R} the relation
f(f(f(x)+y)+y)=x+y+f(y). f(f(f(x)+y)+y)=x+y+f(y) .

Solution

Plug in y=0y=0. The functional equation becomes
f(f(f(x)))=x+f(0), f(f(f(x)))=x+f(0),
for all x∈Rx \in \mathbb{R}. Since the map x↦x+f(0)x \mapsto x+f(0) is bijective, then so is ff.

Plug in y=−xy=-x. The functional equation becomes
f(f(f(x)−x)−x)=f(−x), f(f(f(x)-x)-x)=f(-x),
for all x∈Rx \in \mathbb{R}. By injectivity of ff, we can cancel ff in both sides and obtain
f(f(x)−x)=0, f(f(x)-x)=0,
for all x∈Rx \in \mathbb{R}. By surjectivity of ff there exists a real number aa such that f(a)=0f(a)=0. Again by cancelling ff from both sides we obtain
f(x)=x+a f(x)=x+a
for all x∈Rx \in \mathbb{R}. But 0=f(a)=2a0=f(a)=2a. We deduce that
f(x)=x f(x)=x
for all x∈Rx \in \mathbb{R}.
Conversely, we check easily that this function is a solution to the problem.

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