Olympiad Maths Prep

Track / Stage 3 / 97 of 260 #97 of 2000

Problem 97

AMC 10/12, early questions
Algebra Difficulty 3.3 Find the answer

Define a function f(x)f(x) on R\mathbb{R} such that for any x,yRx, y \in \mathbb{R}, it holds that f(x+y)=f(x)+f(y)f(x+y) = f(x) + f(y), and when x>0x > 0, f(x)>0f(x) > 0, f(2)=4f(2) = 4. Find the maximum value of f(x)f(x) on the interval [2012,100][-2012, -100].

Official solution

Let x=y=0x=y=0, we get: f(0+0)=f(0)+f(0)f(0+0) = f(0) + f(0),
f(0)=0f(0) = 0;
Let y=xy=-x, we get f(x)+f(x)=f(0)=0f(-x) + f(x) = f(0) = 0, which means f(x)=f(x)f(-x) = -f(x),
y=f(x)y=f(x) is an odd function;
Since when x>0x > 0, f(x)>0f(x) > 0,
∴ when x10x_1 0, f(x2)f(x1)=f(x2)+f(x1)=f(x2x1)>0f(x_2) - f(x_1) = f(x_2) + f(-x_1) = f(x_2 - x_1) > 0,
y=f(x)y=f(x) is monotonically increasing on R\mathbb{R}.
∴ The maximum value of f(x)f(x) on [2012,100][-2012, -100] is f(100)f(-100).
Since f(2)=4f(2) = 4,
f(2)=4f(-2) = -4,
f(22)=f(2)+f(2)=2f(2)=8f(-2-2) = f(-2) + f(-2) = 2f(-2) = -8, i.e., f(4)=8f(-4) = -8,
Similarly, we can get f(6)=3f(2)=12f(-6) = 3f(-2) = -12
...,
f(2n)=nf(2)f(-2n) = nf(-2),
f(100)=50f(2)=200f(-100) = 50f(-2) = -200.
∴ The maximum value of f(x)f(x) on [2012,100][-2012, -100] is 200\boxed{-200}.
Hence, the answer is 200\boxed{-200}.

Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic, difficulty and ordering added by this site.