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62nd Czech and Slovak Mathematical Olympiad

Czech Republic algebra

Problem

Find all functions such that for all non-zero numbers ,
Solution
Substituting gives Denoting , we have . Substituting , we get i. e., hence Finally, we check that for any real number , the function satisfies the conditions:

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Alternative solution.

Let us set . Substituting into the given equation yields i. e.,

The given equation can be rearranged into the form whence, using (1), we have

Interchanging and gives so, combining the last two equations, we get and substituting now gives Again, we can easily verify that every function is a solution of the given functional equation.
Final answer
All solutions are f(x) = c(1 + 1/x) for real constants c and all nonzero real x.

Techniques

Functional Equations