AlgebraDifficulty 7.5National olympiad, round 2Find the answer
Find all continuous functions f:R→R such that f(x)−f(y) is rational for all reals x and y such that x−y is rational.
A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.
Solution
We prove that f(x)=ax+b where a∈Q and b∈R. These functions obviously satisfy the conditions. Suppose that a function f(x) fulfills the required properties. For an arbitrary rational q, consider the function gq(x)=f(x+q)−f(x). This is a continuous function which attains only rational values, therefore gq is constant. Set a=f(1)−f(0) and b=f(0). Let n be an arbitrary positive integer and let r=f(1/n)−f(0). Since f(x+1/n)−f(x)=f(1/n)−f(0)=r for all x, we have f(k/n)−f(0)=(f(1/n)−f(0))+(f(2/n)−f(1/n))+…+(f(k/n)−f((k−1)/n)=kr and f(−k/n)−f(0)=−(f(0)−f(−1/n))−(f(−1/n)−f(−2/n))−…−(f(−(k−1)/n)−f(−k/n)=−kr for k≥1. In the case k=n we get a=f(1)−f(0)=nr, so r=a/n. Hence, f(k/n)−f(0)=kr=ak/n and then f(k/n)=a⋅k/n+b for all integers k and n>0. So, we have f(x)=ax+b for all rational x. Since the function f is continuous and the rational numbers form a dense subset of R, the same holds for all real x.
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