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    Functional Equations - Aaron Pixton - MOP 2010

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    This document discusses functional equations and provides tips for solving them, along with 12 problems as examples. Some key tips include plugging in special values, guessing solutions, making substitutions to simplify equations, and considering properties like injectivity, surjectivity, and monotonicity. The problems cover a range of functional equations defined over domains like real numbers, integers, and natural numbers.

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    Functional Equations - Aaron Pixton - MOP 2010

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    aruodas
    36 views2 pages
    This document discusses functional equations and provides tips for solving them, along with 12 problems as examples. Some key tips include plugging in special values, guessing solutions, making substitutions to simplify equations, and considering properties like injectivity, surjectivity, and monotonicity. The problems cover a range of functional equations defined over domains like real numbers, integers, and natural numbers.

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    This document discusses functional equations and provides tips for solving them, along with 12 problems as examples. Some key tips include plugging in special values, guessing solutions, making substitutions to simplify equations, and considering properties like injectivity, surjectivity, and monotonicity. The problems cover a range of functional equations defined over domains like real numbers, integers, and natural numbers.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    36 views2 pages

    Functional Equations - Aaron Pixton - MOP 2010

    Uploaded by

    aruodas
    This document discusses functional equations and provides tips for solving them, along with 12 problems as examples. Some key tips include plugging in special values, guessing solutions, making substitutions to simplify equations, and considering properties like injectivity, surjectivity, and monotonicity. The problems cover a range of functional equations defined over domains like real numbers, integers, and natural numbers.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 2

    Functional Equations

    Aaron Pixton
    June 9, 2010

    1 Tips and Techniques


    • Plug in special values for some or all of the variables: x = 0, x = ±1, y = ±x, y = f (x), and so on.
    • Guess the answer! Usually there is one nontrivial function (or family of functions) satisfying the functional
    equation, such as f (x) = x2 or f (x) = cx for some c ∈ R, but don’t forget trivial constant solutions such
    as f (x) = 1 as well.

    • Make substitutions like g(x) = f (x + 1) or g(x) = f (x) − f (0) to simplify the functional equation and/or
    its solutions.
    • Consider special values of the function, such as f (0), f (1), and f (−1).
    • Think about the values of the function on arithmetic progressions.

    • Consider trying to prove that the function is injective (one-to-one) or surjective (onto), since both of these
    properties are helpful in simplifying expressions.
    • Find a such that f (a) = 0; this usually (but not always!) means proving surjectivity first.
    • Can you show that the function is monotone (increasing/decreasing)?

    • Cauchy’s functional equation f (x + y) = f (x) + f (y) does not imply that f (x) = cx for functions on R
    without any additional constraints, but it does if any one of the following is also true:
    – f is monotone on some interval
    – f is continuous at one point
    – f is bounded on some interval
    – f is actually only a function on Q, not all of R.

    2 Problems
    1. (APMC 97) Prove that there does not exist f : Z → Z such that

    f (x + f (y)) = f (x)y

    for all integers x, y.


    2. (ISL 01/A4) Find all functions f : R → R satisfying

    f (xy)(f (x) − f (y)) = (x − y)f (x)f (y)

    for all x, y.

    1
    3. (ISL 03/A2) Find all nondecreasing functions f : R → R such that
    (i) f (0) = 0, f (1) = 1;
    (ii) f (a) + f (b) = f (a)f (b) + f (a + b − ab) for all real numbers a, b such that a < 1 < b.
    4. (USAMO 00/1] Prove that there exists no function f : R → R such that
     
    f (x) + f (y) x+y
    ≥f + |x − y|
    2 2

    for all x, y.
    5. (Romania 05) Find all functions f : R → R for which

    x(f (x + 1) − f (x)) = f (x)

    for all x ∈ R and


    |f (x) − f (y)| ≤ |x − y|
    for all x, y ∈ R.
    6. (ISL 02/A1) Find all functions f : R → R such that

    f (f (x) + y) = 2x + f (f (y) − x)

    for all real x, y.


    7. (Romania TST 04) Find all one-to-one mappings f : N → N such that for all positive integers n the following
    relation holds:
    n + f (n)
    f (f (n)) ≤ .
    2
    8. (ISL 04/N3) Find all functions f : N∗ → N∗ satisfying
      2
    2
    f (m) + f (n) | m2 + n

    for any two positive integers m and n. Remark. The abbreviation N∗ stands for the set of all positive integers:
    N∗ = {1, 2, 3, ...}.

    9. (ISL 00/A3) Find all pairs of functions f, g : R → R such that

    f (x + g(y)) = x · f (y) − y · f (x) + g(x)

    for all real x, y.

    10. (China TST 03) Find all functions f : Z+ → R which satisfy f (n + 1) ≥ f (n) for all n ≥ 1 and f (mn) =
    f (m)f (n) for all (m, n) = 1.
    11. (IMO 99/6) Find all functions f : R → R such that

    f (x − f (y)) = f (f (y)) + xf (y) + f (x) − 1

    for all x, y ∈ R.
    12. (ISL 05/A2) Find all functions f : R+ → R+ which satisfy

    f (x) f (y) = 2f (x + yf (x))

    for all positive real numbers x and y.

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