Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 5.4 AIME, harder Prove it Ireland

Find all functions f:ZZf : \mathbb{Z} \to \mathbb{Z} such that for all integers a,ba, b
f(a+f(b))=b+f(a). f(a + f(b)) = b + f(a).

Solution

The two solutions are f(x)=xf(x) = x and f(x)=xf(x) = -x. We prove this in three stages. First we show that ff is self-inverse, that is, f(f(x))=xf(f(x)) = x for all integers xx. Secondly we show that ff is additive. Thirdly, we demonstrate that the stated solutions are the only self-inverse additive functions.

To show the self-inverse property, interchange aa and bb in the original equation
f(b+f(a))=a+f(b), f(b + f(a)) = a + f(b),
then apply ff again to each side, which gives
f(f(b+f(a)))=f(a+f(b))=b+f(a). f(f(b + f(a))) = f(a + f(b)) = b + f(a).
Any integer can be represented as b+f(a)b + f(a) hence f(f(x))=xf(f(x)) = x for all xx. For additivity, let c=f(b)c = f(b). By the self-inverse property, any integer cc can be written in this form, setting b=f(c)b = f(c). The original equation becomes
f(a+c)=f(c)+f(a). f(a + c) = f(c) + f(a).
Putting a=c=0a = c = 0 implies f(0)=0f(0) = 0. It follows by induction that f(x)=xf(1)f(x) = x f(1) for positive integers xx. Writing c=ac = -a proves that f(x)=xf(1)f(x) = x f(1) for all negative xx. Therefore, f(x)f(x) is linear with slope f(1)f(1) and yy-intercept of zero. Finally, the self-inverse property with x=1x = 1 gives 1=f(f(1))=f(1)21 = f(f(1)) = f(1)^2, whence f(1)2=1f(1)^2 = 1 and f(1)=±1f(1) = \pm 1 yielding the two solutions claimed. It is straightforward to check that both indeed are solutions.

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