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Algebra Difficulty 5.3 AIME, harder Find the answer

Find all functions f:RRf: \mathbb{R} \rightarrow \mathbb{R} for which

f(x+y)=f(xy)+f(f(1xy)) f(x+y)=f(x-y)+f(f(1-x y))

holds for all real numbers xx and yy.

Answer: f(x)0f(x) \equiv 0.

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

Solution

Substituting y=0y=0 gives f(x)=f(x)+f(f(1))f(x)=f(x)+f(f(1)), hence f(f(1))=0f(f(1))=0. Using this after substituting x=0x=0 into the original equation gives f(y)=f(y)f(y)=f(-y) for all yy, i.e., ff is even.

Substituting x=1x=1 into the original equation gives f(1+y)=f(1y)+f(1+y)=f(1-y)+ f(f(1y))f(f(1-y)). By ff being even, also f(1y)=f(1y)+f(f(1y))f(-1-y)=f(1-y)+f(f(1-y)). Hence f(f(1y))=f(1y2)f(1y)f(f(1-y))=f(1-y-2)-f(1-y). As 1y1-y covers all real values, one can conclude that

f(f(z))=f(z2)f(z) f(f(z))=f(z-2)-f(z)

for all real numbers zz.

Substituting z-z for zz into (4) and simplifying the terms by using that ff is even, one obtains f(f(z))=f(z+2)f(z)f(f(z))=f(z+2)-f(z). Together with (4), this implies

f(z+2)=f(z2) f(z+2)=f(z-2)

for all real numbers zz.

Now taking y=2y=2 in the original equation followed by applying (5) leads to f(f(12x))=0f(f(1-2 x))=0 for all real xx. As 12x1-2 x covers all real values, one can conclude that

f(f(z))=0 f(f(z))=0

for all real numbers zz. Thus the original equation reduces to

f(x+y)=f(xy). f(x+y)=f(x-y) .

Taking x=yx=y here gives f(2x)=f(0)f(2 x)=f(0), i.e., ff is constant, as 2x2 x covers all real numbers. As 0 must be among the values of ff by (6), f(x)0f(x) \equiv 0 is the only possibility.

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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.