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Algebra Difficulty 4.8 AIME Find the answer

A function ff is given by f(x)+f(11x)=1+xf(x)+f\left(1-\frac{1}{x}\right)=1+x for xR\{0,1}x \in \mathbb{R} \backslash\{0,1\}.
Determine a formula for ff.

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

Solution

Let xR\{0,1}x \in \mathbb{R} \backslash\{0,1\} and y=11xy=1-\frac{1}{x} and z=11xz=\frac{1}{1-x}. It is easy to see that together with xx, yy and thus also zz belong to R\{0,1}\mathbb{R} \backslash\{0,1\}. Substituting yy and zz into the original equation leads to:

f(11x)+f(11x)=21x and f(11x)+f(x)=1+11x f\left(1-\frac{1}{x}\right)+f\left(\frac{1}{1-x}\right)=2-\frac{1}{x} \text { and } f\left(\frac{1}{1-x}\right)+f(x)=1+\frac{1}{1-x}

Subtracting the last two relations gives:

f(x)f(11x)=11x+1x1 f(x)-f\left(1-\frac{1}{x}\right)=\frac{1}{1-x}+\frac{1}{x}-1

and adding this to the original equation finally results in

f(x)=12(11x+1x+x)=x3+x2+12x(1x) f(x)=\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{1}{1-x}+\frac{1}{x}+x\right)=\frac{-x^{3}+x^{2}+1}{2 x(1-x)}

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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.