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Algebra Difficulty 5.6 AIME, harder Find the answer

6. find all functions f:R>0R>0f: \mathbb{R}_{>0} \rightarrow \mathbb{R}_{>0} which fulfill the following equation for all x>y>z>0x>y>z>0:

f(xy+z)=f(x)+f(y)+f(z)xyyz+xz f(x-y+z)=f(x)+f(y)+f(z)-x y-y z+x z

## 1st solution

A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.

Solution

Let x>z>0x>z>0 be arbitrary. Set y=x+z2y=\frac{x+z}{2}, then x>y>zx>y>z applies and the equation simplifies to

f(x)+f(z)=x2+z22,x>z>0 f(x)+f(z)=\frac{x^{2}+z^{2}}{2}, \quad \forall x>z>0

If we set z=1z=1 and x>1x>1 on the one hand, and x=1x=1 and $00, x \neq 1
If, for example, we now set $x=2$ and $y=3$ in (2) and use what has just been proven, then finally $f(1)=\frac{1}{2}$ follows and therefore $f(x)=\frac{x^{2}}{2}$ is the only possible solution function. This obviously fulfills the condition of the task even for all $x, y, z>0$. ## 2nd solution If you first set $x=2 t, y=\frac{3}{2} t, z=t$, then $x=3 t, y=2 t, z=t$, and finally $x=3 t, y=\frac{5}{2} t, z=2 t$ for any $t>0$, you get the three equations
f(2t)+f(t)=52t2f(3t)+f(t)=5t2f(3t)+f(2t)=132t2\begin{aligned} f(2 t)+f(t) & =\frac{5}{2} t^{2} \\ f(3 t)+f(t) & =5 t^{2} \\ f(3 t)+f(2 t) & =\frac{13}{2} t^{2} \end{aligned}
If you add the first two and subtract the third, then $2 f(t)=t^{2}$ follows for all $t>0$, the only solution function is therefore $f(t)=\frac{t^{2}}{2}$. ## 3rd solution Set $x=3 t, y=2 t, z=t$ for $t>0$, then follows
f(3 t)+f(t)=5 t^{2}
Set $x=9 t, y=5 t, z=t$ for $t>0$, then you get analogously
f(9 t)+f(t)=41 t^{2}
Finally, substitute $x=9 t, y=3 t, z=t$ into the original equation and multiply by 2 , then the following follows
2f(7t)=(f(9t)+f(3t))+(f(9t)+f(t))+(f(3t)+f(t))42t2=45t2+41t2+5t242t2=49t2\begin{aligned} 2 f(7 t) & =(f(9 t)+f(3 t))+(f(9 t)+f(t))+(f(3 t)+f(t))-42 t^{2} \\ & =45 t^{2}+41 t^{2}+5 t^{2}-42 t^{2}=49 t^{2} \end{aligned}

If we replace 7t7 t with tt, we finally obtain the only possible solution f(t)=t22f(t)=\frac{t^{2}}{2} for t>0t>0.

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Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.