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Algebra Difficulty 5.4 AIME, harder Find the answer

4. Find all functions f:EBf: \mathscr{E} \rightarrow \mathscr{B}, for any x,yF,fx, y \in \mathscr{F}, f satisfies
f(xy)(f(x)f(y))=(xy)f(x)f(y) f(x y)(f(x)-f(y))=(x-y) f(x) f(y) \text {. }

where B\mathscr{B} is the set of real numbers.

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

Solution

Let y=1y=1, then
f(x)(f(x)f(1))=(x1)f(x)f(1)f(x)(f(x)-f(1))=(x-1) f(x) f(1),
which means f2(x)=xf(x)f(1)f^{2}(x)=x f(x) f(1).
If f(1)=0f(1)=0, then f(x)=0f(x)=0 for all xx, which satisfies the given condition.

Assume f(1)=c0f(1)=c \neq 0, then f(0)=0f(0)=0. Let G={xxB,f(x)0}G=\{x \mid x \in \mathscr{B}, f(x) \neq 0\}. Clearly, 0G0 \notin G, and for all xGx \in G, we have f(x)=xf(1)f(x) = x f(1). Therefore, the function that satisfies the given condition is
f(x)={Cx,xG,0,xG. f(x)=\left\{\begin{array}{ll} C x, & x \in G, \\ 0, & x \notin G . \end{array}\right.

Next, we determine the structure of GG so that the function defined by (1) satisfies the given condition for any real numbers x,yAx, y \in A.

It is easy to verify that if xyx \neq y, and x,yGx, y \in G, then xyGx y \in G if and only if the function defined by (1) satisfies the given condition. When x,yGx, y \notin G, the function defined by (1) also satisfies the given condition. By symmetry, we only need to consider the case where xGx \in G and yGy \notin G.
When xGx \in G and yGy \notin G, we have f(y)=0f(y)=0, so the given condition reduces to f(xy)f(x)=0f(x y) f(x)=0.
Since xGx \in G, we have f(x)0f(x) \neq 0, thus f(xy)=0f(x y)=0. Therefore, xyGx y \notin G.
(i) If xGx \in G, then 1xG\frac{1}{x} \in G.
If 1xG\frac{1}{x} \notin G, then x1x=1Gx \cdot \frac{1}{x}=1 \notin G, which contradicts 1G1 \in G.
(ii) If x,yGx, y \in G, then xyGx y \in G.
If xyGx y \notin G, by (i) we know 1xG\frac{1}{x} \in G, thus 1xxy=yG\frac{1}{x} \cdot x y=y \notin G, which is a contradiction.
(iii) If x,yGx, y \in G, then xyG\frac{x}{y} \in G.
By (i) we know 1yG\frac{1}{y} \in G, and by (ii) we get xyG\frac{x}{y} \in G.
Therefore, GG contains 1, does not contain 0, and is closed under multiplication and division. The closure under multiplication and division characterizes GG.
We finally write down all solutions to this problem:
f(x)={Cx,xG,0,xG. f(x)=\left\{\begin{array}{cc} C x, & x \in G, \\ 0, & x \notin G . \end{array}\right.

Here CC is any fixed constant, and GG is any subset of R\mathbb{R} that is closed under multiplication and division. When C=0C=0, it is the trivial solution mentioned earlier.

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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.