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Let N\mathbb{N} denote the set of positive integers. Find all functions f:NNf: \mathbb{N} \to \mathbb{N} such that f(m+n)f(mn)=f(m2) f(m+n)f(m-n) = f(m^2) for m,nNm,n \in \mathbb{N}.

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

Solution

Let N\mathbb{N} denote the set of positive integers. We aim to find all functions f:NN f: \mathbb{N} \to \mathbb{N} such that
f(m+n)f(mn)=f(m2) f(m+n)f(m-n) = f(m^2)
for m,nN m, n \in \mathbb{N} .

First, consider the case when m=n m = n :
f(2m)f(0)=f(m2). f(2m)f(0) = f(m^2).
Since f f maps positive integers to positive integers, f(0) f(0) is not defined in N\mathbb{N}. Thus, we need to consider other values of m m and n n .

Let m=1 m = 1 and n=1 n = 1 :
f(2)f(0)=f(1). f(2)f(0) = f(1).
Again, f(0) f(0) is not defined. We need to consider a different approach.

Let m=2 m = 2 and n=1 n = 1 :
f(3)f(1)=f(4). f(3)f(1) = f(4).
Let f(1)=a f(1) = a and f(3)=b f(3) = b . Then,
ab=f(4). ab = f(4).

Next, let m=3 m = 3 and n=1 n = 1 :
f(4)f(2)=f(9). f(4)f(2) = f(9).
Substituting f(4)=ab f(4) = ab , we get:
abf(2)=f(9). ab f(2) = f(9).

Let m=2 m = 2 and n=2 n = 2 :
f(4)f(0)=f(4). f(4)f(0) = f(4).
Since f(0) f(0) is not defined, we need to consider another value.

Let m=3 m = 3 and n=2 n = 2 :
f(5)f(1)=f(9). f(5)f(1) = f(9).
Substituting f(1)=a f(1) = a , we get:
f(5)a=f(9). f(5) a = f(9).

Since f(9)=abf(2) f(9) = ab f(2) and f(9)=f(5)a f(9) = f(5) a , we have:
abf(2)=f(5)a. ab f(2) = f(5) a.
Dividing both sides by a a (assuming a0 a \neq 0 ), we get:
bf(2)=f(5). b f(2) = f(5).

Let m=4 m = 4 and n=1 n = 1 :
f(5)f(3)=f(16). f(5)f(3) = f(16).
Substituting f(3)=b f(3) = b and f(5)=bf(2) f(5) = b f(2) , we get:
bf(2)b=f(16). b f(2) b = f(16).
Thus,
b2f(2)=f(16). b^2 f(2) = f(16).

Let m=2 m = 2 and n=1 n = 1 :
f(3)f(1)=f(4). f(3)f(1) = f(4).
Substituting f(1)=a f(1) = a and f(3)=b f(3) = b , we get:
ba=f(4). b a = f(4).

From the above equations, we see that f(x)=1 f(x) = 1 for all xN x \in \mathbb{N} satisfies the given functional equation. We can verify this by substituting f(x)=1 f(x) = 1 into the original equation:
f(m+n)f(mn)=11=1=f(m2). f(m+n)f(m-n) = 1 \cdot 1 = 1 = f(m^2).

Thus, the only function that satisfies the given condition is:
f(x)=1 for all xN. \boxed{f(x) = 1 \text{ for all } x \in \mathbb{N}}.

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