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Algebra Difficulty 7.4 National olympiad, round 2 Find the answer

Let Z\mathbb Z be the set of all integers. Find all pairs of integers (a,b)(a,b) for which there exist functions f:ZZf:\mathbb Z\rightarrow\mathbb Z and g:ZZg:\mathbb Z\rightarrow\mathbb Z satisfying f(g(x))=x+aandg(f(x))=x+bf(g(x))=x+a\quad\text{and}\quad g(f(x))=x+b for all integers xx .

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

Solution

We claim that the answer is a=b|a|=|b| .
Proof: ff and gg are surjective because x+ax+a and x+bx+b can take on any integral value, and by evaluating the parentheses in different order, we find f(g(f(x)))=f(x+b)=f(x)+af(g(f(x)))=f(x+b)=f(x)+a and g(f(g(x)))=g(x+a)=g(x)+bg(f(g(x)))=g(x+a)=g(x)+b . We see that if a=0a=0 then g(x)=g(x)+bg(x)=g(x)+b to b=0b=0 as well, so similarly if b=0b=0 then a=0a=0 , so now assume a,b0a, b\ne 0 .
We see that if x=bnx=|b|n then f(x)f(0)(moda)f(x)\equiv f(0) \pmod{|a|} , if x=bn+1x=|b|n+1 then f(x)f(1)(moda)f(x)\equiv f(1)\pmod{|a|} , if x=bn+2x=|b|n+2 then f(x)f(2)(moda)f(x)\equiv f(2)\pmod{|a|} ... if x=b(n+1)1x=|b|(n+1)-1 then f(x)f(b1)(moda)f(x)\equiv f(|b|-1)\pmod{|a|} . This means that the bb -element collection {f(0),f(1),f(2),...,f(b1)}\left\{f(0), f(1), f(2), ... ,f(|b|-1)\right\} contains all a|a| residues mod a|a| since ff is surjective, so ba|b|\ge |a| . Doing the same to gg yields that ab|a|\ge |b| , so this means that only a=b|a|=|b| can work.
For a=ba=b let f(x)=xf(x)=x and g(x)=x+ag(x)=x+a , and for a=ba=-b let f(x)=xf(x)=-x and g(x)=xag(x)=-x-a , so a=b|a|=|b| does work and are the only solutions, as desired.
-Stormersyle

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