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International Mathematical Olympiad

Algebra Difficulty 8.7 Shortlist Find the answer

Let R+\mathbb{R}^+ denote the set of positive real numbers. Find all functions f:R+→R+f: \mathbb{R}^+ \to \mathbb{R}^+ such that for each x∈R+x \in \mathbb{R}^+, there is exactly one y∈R+y \in \mathbb{R}^+ satisfying xf(y)+yf(x)≤2xf(y)+yf(x) \leq 2

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

Solution

To solve the given functional equation problem, we must find all functions f:R+→R+ f: \mathbb{R}^+ \to \mathbb{R}^+ such that for each x∈R+ x \in \mathbb{R}^+ , there is exactly one y∈R+ y \in \mathbb{R}^+ satisfying

xf(y)+yf(x)≤2. xf(y) + yf(x) \leq 2.

### Step 1: Analyze the Condition

Given the condition xf(y)+yf(x)≤2 xf(y) + yf(x) \leq 2 , this must be true for exactly one y y for each x x .

### Step 2: Find a Candidate Function

Assume f(x)=1x f(x) = \frac{1}{x} .

Substitute this into the inequality condition:

xf(y)+yf(x)=x⋅1y+y⋅1x=xy+yx. xf(y) + yf(x) = x \cdot \frac{1}{y} + y \cdot \frac{1}{x} = \frac{x}{y} + \frac{y}{x}.

We seek y y such that:

xy+yx≤2. \frac{x}{y} + \frac{y}{x} \leq 2.

### Step 3: Simplify the Expression

The inequality xy+yx≤2 \frac{x}{y} + \frac{y}{x} \leq 2 can be rearranged and simplified:

Multiplying through by xy xy gives

x2+y2≤2xy. x^2 + y^2 \leq 2xy.

This simplifies to:

(x−y)2≤0. (x-y)^2 \leq 0.

Hence, we deduce that x=y x = y .

### Step 4: Verify Uniqueness

Since we have (x−y)2≤0 (x-y)^2 \leq 0 , it implies x=y x = y is the only solution permissible.

This verifies that for each x x , the solution for y y is unique, and thus the function f(x)=1x f(x) = \frac{1}{x} satisfies the condition exactly for one y=x y = x .

### Conclusion

The function that meets the problem’s condition is

f(x)=1x. f(x) = \frac{1}{x}.

Therefore, the solution to the problem is:

f(x)=1x. \boxed{f(x) = \frac{1}{x}}.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,604 problems in a working order, from Junior Challenge level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: Omni-MATH, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.