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Algebra Difficulty 6.1 National olympiad Find the answer

Find all functions ff such that f(x3+y3+xy)=x2f(x)+y2f(y)+f(xy)f(x^{3}+y^{3}+x y)=x^{2} f(x)+y^{2} f(y)+f(x y) for all real numbers xx and yy.

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

Solution

Setting x=1,y=0x=1, y=0 in the initial equation gives f(0)=0f(0)=0. Taking y=0y=0 in the equation we obtain f(x3)=x2f(x)f(x^{3})=x^{2} f(x). Substituting y=xy=-x into the equation leads to f(x)=f(x)f(-x)=-f(x). From these, it follows that f(x3+y3+xy)+f(x3y3xy)=2f(x3)f(x^{3}+y^{3}+x y)+f(x^{3}-y^{3}-x y)=2 f(x^{3}). For any a,bRa, b \in \mathbb{R}, there exist x,yRx, y \in \mathbb{R} such that a=x3+y3+xy,b=x3y3xya=x^{3}+y^{3}+x y, b=x^{3}-y^{3}-x y. Therefore, f(a)+f(b)=2f(a+b2)f(a)+f(b)=2 f\left(\frac{a+b}{2}\right), which implies f(a+b)=f(a)+f(b)f(a+b)=f(a)+f(b). Further, changing xx+1x \rightarrow x+1 in the equation and denoting c=f(1)c=f(1), from the additivity of ff, we obtain f(x)=cxf(x)=c x. It is easy to verify that this function satisfies the given equation for all cRc \in \mathbb{R}.

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