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Algebra Difficulty 8.4 Shortlist Find the answer

Find all functions f:(0,)(0,)f:(0,\infty)\rightarrow (0,\infty) such that for any x,y(0,)x,y\in (0,\infty), xf(x2)f(f(y))+f(yf(x))=f(xy)(f(f(x2))+f(f(y2))).xf(x^2)f(f(y)) + f(yf(x)) = f(xy) \left(f(f(x^2)) + f(f(y^2))\right).

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

Solution

Let's find all functions f:(0,)(0,) f: (0, \infty) \rightarrow (0, \infty) that satisfy the functional equation:

xf(x2)f(f(y))+f(yf(x))=f(xy)(f(f(x2))+f(f(y2))). xf(x^2)f(f(y)) + f(yf(x)) = f(xy) \left( f(f(x^2)) + f(f(y^2)) \right).

To solve this problem, consider the possibility f(x)=1x f(x) = \frac{1}{x} . We will verify if this satisfies the given functional equation for all x,y(0,) x, y \in (0, \infty) .

Verification:

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

1. Compute each term in the equation with this f(x) f(x) :

f(x2)=1x2,f(f(y))=11y=y,f(yf(x))=f(yx)=xy. f(x^2) = \frac{1}{x^2}, \quad f(f(y)) = \frac{1}{\frac{1}{y}} = y, \quad f(yf(x)) = f\left(\frac{y}{x}\right) = \frac{x}{y}.

f(xy)=1xy,f(f(x2))=11x2=x2,f(f(y2))=11y2=y2. f(xy) = \frac{1}{xy}, \quad f(f(x^2)) = \frac{1}{\frac{1}{x^2}} = x^2, \quad f(f(y^2)) = \frac{1}{\frac{1}{y^2}} = y^2.

2. Substitute these into the given equation:

- Left-hand side:
x1x2y+xy=yx+xy. x \cdot \frac{1}{x^2} \cdot y + \frac{x}{y} = \frac{y}{x} + \frac{x}{y}.

- Right-hand side:
1xy(x2+y2)=x2+y2xy. \frac{1}{xy} \cdot (x^2 + y^2) = \frac{x^2 + y^2}{xy}.

3. Check if these expressions are equal:

- Simplify the left-hand side:
yx+xy=y2+x2xy. \frac{y}{x} + \frac{x}{y} = \frac{y^2 + x^2}{xy}.

- Simplified right-hand side is:
x2+y2xy. \frac{x^2 + y^2}{xy}.

Both simplify to the same expression x2+y2xy\frac{x^2 + y^2}{xy}, hence f(x)=1x f(x) = \frac{1}{x} satisfies the functional equation.

Thus, the only function that satisfies the given equation is:

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

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Source: Omni-MATH, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.