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Algebra Difficulty 3.4 AMC 10/12 Find the answer

Given that the function f(x)f(x) satisfies: f(1)=14f(1)=\frac{1}{4}, 4f(x)f(y)=f(x+y)+f(xy)4f(x)f(y)=f(x+y)+f(x-y) (x,yR)(x,y\in\mathbb{R}), find f(2012)f(2012) \_\_\_\_\_\_.

A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.

Solution

Let x=1x=1, y=0y=0, we get f(0)=12f(0)=\frac{1}{2},

Let x=nx=n, y=1y=1, we have f(n)=f(n+1)+f(n1)f(n)=f(n+1)+f(n-1),

Similarly, f(n+1)=f(n+2)+f(n)f(n+1)=f(n+2)+f(n),

Combining the above equations, we get f(n+2)=f(n1)f(n+2)=-f(n-1),

Thus, f(n)=f(n+3)=f(n+6)f(n)=-f(n+3)=f(n+6),

Therefore, the function is periodic with a period T=6T=6,

So, f(2012)=f(2)f(2012)=f(2),

Let x=1x=1, y=1y=1, we get f(2)=14f(2)=-\frac{1}{4},

Hence, f(2012)=f(2)=14\boxed{f(2012)=f(2)=-\frac{1}{4}},

The answer is 14\boxed{-\frac{1}{4}};

Since the question asks for f(2012)f(2012), the term is relatively large, so we can immediately judge that the function must be a periodic function. Therefore, we should focus on finding the period; the method for finding the period can be either inductive or deductive reasoning.

Accurately finding the period is the key to this type of problem (where the term is quite large). Both induction and deduction methods can be used to find the period. Choose the method you are most comfortable with during problem-solving.

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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.