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Selection and Training Session

Belarus algebra

Problem

Find all functions such that for all real and a) ; b*) .
Solution
Set in then If for some then (1) implies , hence, in view of (), since . On the other hand, () gives so , i.e. . Therefore, is only zero of . so , i.e. . Therefore, is only zero of . Further, from (1) it follows that is surjective thus there exist an such that . Set in (*), then
Final answer
All solutions are linear: f(x) = k x for some real k. Case a) f(1 − f(1)) ≠ 0 corresponds to k ∈ ℝ \ {0, 1}. Case b*) f(1 − f(1)) = 0 corresponds to k ∈ {0, 1}, i.e., f(x) ≡ 0 or f(x) = x.

Techniques

Injectivity / surjectivityExistential quantifiers