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Algebra Difficulty 7.8 National olympiad, round 2 Find the answer

Find all functions f:RR f: \mathbb{R} \rightarrow \mathbb{R} satisfying

f(x+yf(x2))=f(x)+xf(xy) f\left(x+y f\left(x^{2}\right)\right)=f(x)+x f(x y)

for all real numbers x x and y y .

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

Solution

Let P(x,y)P(x, y) be the assertion f(x+yf(x2))=f(x)+xf(xy)f\left(x+y f\left(x^{2}\right)\right)=f(x)+x f(x y). P(1,0)P(1,0) yields f(0)=0f(0)=0. If there exists x00x_{0} \neq 0 satisfying f(x02)=0f\left(x_{0}^{2}\right)=0, then considering P(x0,y)P\left(x_{0}, y\right), we get f(x0y)=0f\left(x_{0} y\right)=0 for all yRy \in \mathbb{R}. In this case, since x00x_{0} \neq 0, we can write any real number cc in the form x0yx_{0} y for some yy and hence we conclude that f(c)=0f(c)=0. It is clear that the zero function satisfies the given equation. Now assume that f(x2)0f\left(x^{2}\right) \neq 0 for all x0x \neq 0.
By P(1,y)P(1, y) we have

f(1+yf(1))=f(1)+f(y) f(1+y f(1))=f(1)+f(y)

If f(1)1f(1) \neq 1, there exists a real number yy satisfying 1+yf(1)=y1+y f(1)=y which means that f(1)=0f(1)=0 which is a contradiction since f(x2)0f\left(x^{2}\right) \neq 0 for all x0x \neq 0. Therefore we get f(1)=1f(1)=1. Considering P(x,x/f(x2))P\left(x,-x / f\left(x^{2}\right)\right) for x0x \neq 0, we obtain that

f(x)=xf(x2f(x2))xR\{0}. f(x)=-x f\left(-\frac{x^{2}}{f\left(x^{2}\right)}\right) \quad \forall x \in \mathbb{R} \backslash\{0\} .

Replacing xx by x-x in (1), we obtain f(x)=f(x)f(x)=-f(-x) for all x0x \neq 0. Since f(0)=0f(0)=0, we have f(x)=f(x)f(x)=-f(-x) for all xRx \in \mathbb{R}. Since ff is odd, P(x,y)P(x,-y) implies

f(xyf(x2))=f(x)xf(xy) f\left(x-y f\left(x^{2}\right)\right)=f(x)-x f(x y)

and hence by adding P(x,y)P(x, y) and P(x,y)P(x,-y), we get

f(x+yf(x2))+f(xyf(x2))=2f(x)x,yR f\left(x+y f\left(x^{2}\right)\right)+f\left(x-y f\left(x^{2}\right)\right)=2 f(x) \forall x, y \in \mathbb{R}

Putting y=x/f(x2)y=x / f\left(x^{2}\right) for x0x \neq 0 we get

f(2x)=2f(x)xR f(2 x)=2 f(x) \quad \forall x \in \mathbb{R}

and hence we have

f(x+yf(x2))+f(xyf(x2))=f(2x)x,yR f\left(x+y f\left(x^{2}\right)\right)+f\left(x-y f\left(x^{2}\right)\right)=f(2 x) \forall x, y \in \mathbb{R}

It is clear that for any two real numbers uu and vv with uvu \neq-v, we can choose

x=u+v2 and y=vu2f(u+v2)2) x=\frac{u+v}{2} \text { and } y=\frac{v-u}{\left.2 f\left(\frac{u+v}{2}\right)^{2}\right)}

yielding

f(u)+f(v)=f(u+v) f(u)+f(v)=f(u+v)

Since ff is odd, (2) is also true for u=vu=-v and hence we obtain that

f(x)+f(y)=f(x+y)x,yR. f(x)+f(y)=f(x+y) \quad \forall x, y \in \mathbb{R} .

Therefore, P(x,y)P(x, y) implies

f(yf(x2))=xf(xy)x,yR f\left(y f\left(x^{2}\right)\right)=x f(x y) \quad \forall x, y \in \mathbb{R}

Hence we have

f(f(x2))=xf(x)xR f\left(f\left(x^{2}\right)\right)=x f(x) \quad \forall x \in \mathbb{R}

and

f(xf(x2))=xf(x2)xR f\left(x f\left(x^{2}\right)\right)=x f\left(x^{2}\right) \forall x \in \mathbb{R}

Using (2) and (3), we get

xf(x)+yf(y)+xf(y)+yf(x)=(x+y)(f(x)+f(y))=f(f((x+y)2))=f(f(x2+2xy+y2))=f(f(x2)+f(y2)+f(2xy))=f(f(x2))+f(f(y2))+f(f(2xy))=xf(x)+y(f(y))+f(f(2xy))=xf(x)+y(f(y))+2f(f(xy)) \begin{aligned} x f(x)+y f(y)+x f(y)+y f(x) & =(x+y)(f(x)+f(y)) \\ & =f\left(f\left((x+y)^{2}\right)\right) \\ & =f\left(f\left(x^{2}+2 x y+y^{2}\right)\right) \\ & =f\left(f\left(x^{2}\right)+f\left(y^{2}\right)+f(2 x y)\right) \\ & =f\left(f\left(x^{2}\right)\right)+f\left(f\left(y^{2}\right)\right)+f(f(2 x y)) \\ & =x f(x)+y(f(y))+f(f(2 x y)) \\ & =x f(x)+y(f(y))+2 f(f(x y)) \end{aligned}

and hence

2f(f(xy))=xf(y)+yf(x)x,yR. 2 f(f(x y))=x f(y)+y f(x) \forall x, y \in \mathbb{R} .

Using (5), we have

2f(f(x))=x+f(x)xR. 2 f(f(x))=x+f(x) \quad \forall x \in \mathbb{R} .

Using (3) and (6), we obtain that

2xf(x)=2f(f(x2))=x2+f(x2)xR. 2 x f(x)=2 f\left(f\left(x^{2}\right)\right)=x^{2}+f\left(x^{2}\right) \forall x \in \mathbb{R} .

Putting y=f(x2)y=f\left(x^{2}\right) in (5) yields

2f(f(xf(x2)))=xf(f(x2))+f(x2)f(x)xR 2 f\left(f\left(x f\left(x^{2}\right)\right)\right)=x f\left(f\left(x^{2}\right)\right)+f\left(x^{2}\right) f(x) \forall x \in \mathbb{R}

Using (4), we get f(f(xf(x2)))=xf(x2)f\left(f\left(x f\left(x^{2}\right)\right)\right)=x f\left(x^{2}\right) and by (3) and (8) we have

2xf(x2)=2f(f(xf(x2)))=xf(f(x2))+f(x2)f(x)=x2f(x)+f(x2)f(x)xR 2 x f\left(x^{2}\right)=2 f\left(f\left(x f\left(x^{2}\right)\right)\right)=x f\left(f\left(x^{2}\right)\right)+f\left(x^{2}\right) f(x)=x^{2} f(x)+f\left(x^{2}\right) f(x) \forall x \in \mathbb{R}

Now using (7), write f(x2)=2xf(x)x2f\left(x^{2}\right)=2 x f(x)-x^{2} in (9) to obtain that

2x(2xf(x)x2)=x2f(x)+(2xf(x)x2)f(x) 2 x(2 x f(x)-x^{2})=x^{2} f(x)+(2 x f(x)-x^{2}) f(x)

which is equivalent to

2x(xf(x))2=0xR 2 x(x-f(x))^{2}=0 \quad \forall x \in \mathbb{R}

This shows that f(x)=xxRf(x)=x \quad \forall x \in \mathbb{R} which satisfies the original equation. Therefore all solutions are f(x)=0xRf(x)=0 \quad \forall x \in \mathbb{R} and f(x)=xxRf(x)=x \quad \forall x \in \mathbb{R}.

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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.