Stay ahead of learning milestones! Enroll in a class over the summer!

G
Topic
First Poster
Last Poster
k a April Highlights and 2025 AoPS Online Class Information
jlacosta   0
Apr 2, 2025
Spring is in full swing and summer is right around the corner, what are your plans? At AoPS Online our schedule has new classes starting now through July, so be sure to keep your skills sharp and be prepared for the Fall school year! Check out the schedule of upcoming classes below.

WOOT early bird pricing is in effect, don’t miss out! If you took MathWOOT Level 2 last year, no worries, it is all new problems this year! Our Worldwide Online Olympiad Training program is for high school level competitors. AoPS designed these courses to help our top students get the deep focus they need to succeed in their specific competition goals. Check out the details at this link for all our WOOT programs in math, computer science, chemistry, and physics.

Looking for summer camps in math and language arts? Be sure to check out the video-based summer camps offered at the Virtual Campus that are 2- to 4-weeks in duration. There are middle and high school competition math camps as well as Math Beasts camps that review key topics coupled with fun explorations covering areas such as graph theory (Math Beasts Camp 6), cryptography (Math Beasts Camp 7-8), and topology (Math Beasts Camp 8-9)!

Be sure to mark your calendars for the following events:
[list][*]April 3rd (Webinar), 4pm PT/7:00pm ET, Learning with AoPS: Perspectives from a Parent, Math Camp Instructor, and University Professor
[*]April 8th (Math Jam), 4:30pm PT/7:30pm ET, 2025 MATHCOUNTS State Discussion
April 9th (Webinar), 4:00pm PT/7:00pm ET, Learn about Video-based Summer Camps at the Virtual Campus
[*]April 10th (Math Jam), 4:30pm PT/7:30pm ET, 2025 MathILy and MathILy-Er Math Jam: Multibackwards Numbers
[*]April 22nd (Webinar), 4:00pm PT/7:00pm ET, Competitive Programming at AoPS (USACO).[/list]
Our full course list for upcoming classes is below:
All classes run 7:30pm-8:45pm ET/4:30pm - 5:45pm PT unless otherwise noted.

Introductory: Grades 5-10

Prealgebra 1 Self-Paced

Prealgebra 1
Sunday, Apr 13 - Aug 10
Tuesday, May 13 - Aug 26
Thursday, May 29 - Sep 11
Sunday, Jun 15 - Oct 12
Monday, Jun 30 - Oct 20
Wednesday, Jul 16 - Oct 29

Prealgebra 2 Self-Paced

Prealgebra 2
Sunday, Apr 13 - Aug 10
Wednesday, May 7 - Aug 20
Monday, Jun 2 - Sep 22
Sunday, Jun 29 - Oct 26
Friday, Jul 25 - Nov 21

Introduction to Algebra A Self-Paced

Introduction to Algebra A
Monday, Apr 7 - Jul 28
Sunday, May 11 - Sep 14 (1:00 - 2:30 pm ET/10:00 - 11:30 am PT)
Wednesday, May 14 - Aug 27
Friday, May 30 - Sep 26
Monday, Jun 2 - Sep 22
Sunday, Jun 15 - Oct 12
Thursday, Jun 26 - Oct 9
Tuesday, Jul 15 - Oct 28

Introduction to Counting & Probability Self-Paced

Introduction to Counting & Probability
Wednesday, Apr 16 - Jul 2
Thursday, May 15 - Jul 31
Sunday, Jun 1 - Aug 24
Thursday, Jun 12 - Aug 28
Wednesday, Jul 9 - Sep 24
Sunday, Jul 27 - Oct 19

Introduction to Number Theory
Thursday, Apr 17 - Jul 3
Friday, May 9 - Aug 1
Wednesday, May 21 - Aug 6
Monday, Jun 9 - Aug 25
Sunday, Jun 15 - Sep 14
Tuesday, Jul 15 - Sep 30

Introduction to Algebra B Self-Paced

Introduction to Algebra B
Wednesday, Apr 16 - Jul 30
Tuesday, May 6 - Aug 19
Wednesday, Jun 4 - Sep 17
Sunday, Jun 22 - Oct 19
Friday, Jul 18 - Nov 14

Introduction to Geometry
Wednesday, Apr 23 - Oct 1
Sunday, May 11 - Nov 9
Tuesday, May 20 - Oct 28
Monday, Jun 16 - Dec 8
Friday, Jun 20 - Jan 9
Sunday, Jun 29 - Jan 11
Monday, Jul 14 - Jan 19

Intermediate: Grades 8-12

Intermediate Algebra
Monday, Apr 21 - Oct 13
Sunday, Jun 1 - Nov 23
Tuesday, Jun 10 - Nov 18
Wednesday, Jun 25 - Dec 10
Sunday, Jul 13 - Jan 18
Thursday, Jul 24 - Jan 22

Intermediate Counting & Probability
Wednesday, May 21 - Sep 17
Sunday, Jun 22 - Nov 2

Intermediate Number Theory
Friday, Apr 11 - Jun 27
Sunday, Jun 1 - Aug 24
Wednesday, Jun 18 - Sep 3

Precalculus
Wednesday, Apr 9 - Sep 3
Friday, May 16 - Oct 24
Sunday, Jun 1 - Nov 9
Monday, Jun 30 - Dec 8

Advanced: Grades 9-12

Olympiad Geometry
Tuesday, Jun 10 - Aug 26

Calculus
Tuesday, May 27 - Nov 11
Wednesday, Jun 25 - Dec 17

Group Theory
Thursday, Jun 12 - Sep 11

Contest Preparation: Grades 6-12

MATHCOUNTS/AMC 8 Basics
Wednesday, Apr 16 - Jul 2
Friday, May 23 - Aug 15
Monday, Jun 2 - Aug 18
Thursday, Jun 12 - Aug 28
Sunday, Jun 22 - Sep 21
Tues & Thurs, Jul 8 - Aug 14 (meets twice a week!)

MATHCOUNTS/AMC 8 Advanced
Friday, Apr 11 - Jun 27
Sunday, May 11 - Aug 10
Tuesday, May 27 - Aug 12
Wednesday, Jun 11 - Aug 27
Sunday, Jun 22 - Sep 21
Tues & Thurs, Jul 8 - Aug 14 (meets twice a week!)

AMC 10 Problem Series
Friday, May 9 - Aug 1
Sunday, Jun 1 - Aug 24
Thursday, Jun 12 - Aug 28
Tuesday, Jun 17 - Sep 2
Sunday, Jun 22 - Sep 21 (1:00 - 2:30 pm ET/10:00 - 11:30 am PT)
Monday, Jun 23 - Sep 15
Tues & Thurs, Jul 8 - Aug 14 (meets twice a week!)

AMC 10 Final Fives
Sunday, May 11 - Jun 8
Tuesday, May 27 - Jun 17
Monday, Jun 30 - Jul 21

AMC 12 Problem Series
Tuesday, May 27 - Aug 12
Thursday, Jun 12 - Aug 28
Sunday, Jun 22 - Sep 21
Wednesday, Aug 6 - Oct 22

AMC 12 Final Fives
Sunday, May 18 - Jun 15

F=ma Problem Series
Wednesday, Jun 11 - Aug 27

WOOT Programs
Visit the pages linked for full schedule details for each of these programs!


MathWOOT Level 1
MathWOOT Level 2
ChemWOOT
CodeWOOT
PhysicsWOOT

Programming

Introduction to Programming with Python
Thursday, May 22 - Aug 7
Sunday, Jun 15 - Sep 14 (1:00 - 2:30 pm ET/10:00 - 11:30 am PT)
Tuesday, Jun 17 - Sep 2
Monday, Jun 30 - Sep 22

Intermediate Programming with Python
Sunday, Jun 1 - Aug 24
Monday, Jun 30 - Sep 22

USACO Bronze Problem Series
Tuesday, May 13 - Jul 29
Sunday, Jun 22 - Sep 1

Physics

Introduction to Physics
Wednesday, May 21 - Aug 6
Sunday, Jun 15 - Sep 14
Monday, Jun 23 - Sep 15

Physics 1: Mechanics
Thursday, May 22 - Oct 30
Monday, Jun 23 - Dec 15

Relativity
Sat & Sun, Apr 26 - Apr 27 (4:00 - 7:00 pm ET/1:00 - 4:00pm PT)
Mon, Tue, Wed & Thurs, Jun 23 - Jun 26 (meets every day of the week!)
0 replies
jlacosta
Apr 2, 2025
0 replies
k i Adding contests to the Contest Collections
dcouchman   1
N Apr 5, 2023 by v_Enhance
Want to help AoPS remain a valuable Olympiad resource? Help us add contests to AoPS's Contest Collections.

Find instructions and a list of contests to add here: https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c40244h1064480_contests_to_add
1 reply
dcouchman
Sep 9, 2019
v_Enhance
Apr 5, 2023
k i Zero tolerance
ZetaX   49
N May 4, 2019 by NoDealsHere
Source: Use your common sense! (enough is enough)
Some users don't want to learn, some other simply ignore advises.
But please follow the following guideline:


To make it short: ALWAYS USE YOUR COMMON SENSE IF POSTING!
If you don't have common sense, don't post.


More specifically:

For new threads:


a) Good, meaningful title:
The title has to say what the problem is about in best way possible.
If that title occured already, it's definitely bad. And contest names aren't good either.
That's in fact a requirement for being able to search old problems.

Examples:
Bad titles:
- "Hard"/"Medium"/"Easy" (if you find it so cool how hard/easy it is, tell it in the post and use a title that tells us the problem)
- "Number Theory" (hey guy, guess why this forum's named that way¿ and is it the only such problem on earth¿)
- "Fibonacci" (there are millions of Fibonacci problems out there, all posted and named the same...)
- "Chinese TST 2003" (does this say anything about the problem¿)
Good titles:
- "On divisors of a³+2b³+4c³-6abc"
- "Number of solutions to x²+y²=6z²"
- "Fibonacci numbers are never squares"


b) Use search function:
Before posting a "new" problem spend at least two, better five, minutes to look if this problem was posted before. If it was, don't repost it. If you have anything important to say on topic, post it in one of the older threads.
If the thread is locked cause of this, use search function.

Update (by Amir Hossein). The best way to search for two keywords in AoPS is to input
[code]+"first keyword" +"second keyword"[/code]
so that any post containing both strings "first word" and "second form".


c) Good problem statement:
Some recent really bad post was:
[quote]$lim_{n\to 1}^{+\infty}\frac{1}{n}-lnn$[/quote]
It contains no question and no answer.
If you do this, too, you are on the best way to get your thread deleted. Write everything clearly, define where your variables come from (and define the "natural" numbers if used). Additionally read your post at least twice before submitting. After you sent it, read it again and use the Edit-Button if necessary to correct errors.


For answers to already existing threads:


d) Of any interest and with content:
Don't post things that are more trivial than completely obvious. For example, if the question is to solve $x^{3}+y^{3}=z^{3}$, do not answer with "$x=y=z=0$ is a solution" only. Either you post any kind of proof or at least something unexpected (like "$x=1337, y=481, z=42$ is the smallest solution). Someone that does not see that $x=y=z=0$ is a solution of the above without your post is completely wrong here, this is an IMO-level forum.
Similar, posting "I have solved this problem" but not posting anything else is not welcome; it even looks that you just want to show off what a genius you are.

e) Well written and checked answers:
Like c) for new threads, check your solutions at least twice for mistakes. And after sending, read it again and use the Edit-Button if necessary to correct errors.



To repeat it: ALWAYS USE YOUR COMMON SENSE IF POSTING!


Everything definitely out of range of common sense will be locked or deleted (exept for new users having less than about 42 posts, they are newbies and need/get some time to learn).

The above rules will be applied from next monday (5. march of 2007).
Feel free to discuss on this here.
49 replies
ZetaX
Feb 27, 2007
NoDealsHere
May 4, 2019
Relatively prime elements
tau172   2
N 7 minutes ago by Assassino9931
Source: 2004 China Second Round Olympiad
For integer $n\ge 4$, find the minimal integer $f(n)$, such that for any positive integer $m$, in any subset with $f(n)$ elements of the set ${m, m+1, \ldots, m+n+1}$ there are at least $3$ relatively prime elements.
2 replies
tau172
Aug 30, 2014
Assassino9931
7 minutes ago
Advanced topics in Inequalities
va2010   11
N 7 minutes ago by Novmath
So a while ago, I compiled some tricks on inequalities. You are welcome to post solutions below!
11 replies
va2010
Mar 7, 2015
Novmath
7 minutes ago
Algebra polynomial problem
Pi-rate_91   1
N 18 minutes ago by pco
If $ p(x) $ is polynomial with minimum degree such that $p(x)=\frac{x}{x^2+3x+2}$ for $x=0,1,2,...,10$ , find $p(-1)$
1 reply
Pi-rate_91
2 hours ago
pco
18 minutes ago
Inequality with x,y
GeoMorocco   0
18 minutes ago
Let $x,y\ge 0$ such that $ 5(x^3+y^3) \leq 16(1+xy)$. Prove that:
$$8+xy\geq 3(x+y) $$
0 replies
GeoMorocco
18 minutes ago
0 replies
true or false ?
SunnyEvan   1
N 21 minutes ago by SunnyEvan
Let $ a,b,c \geq 0 $ Prove that :
$$ \frac{3k}{k^4+k+1} \leq \frac{ka}{a+k^4b+kc}+\frac{kb}{b+k^4c+ka}+\frac{kc}{c+k^4a+kb} \leq k $$Where $ k \geq 1 $
1 reply
SunnyEvan
2 hours ago
SunnyEvan
21 minutes ago
IMO Shortlist 2012, Combinatorics 1
lyukhson   75
N 21 minutes ago by damyan
Source: IMO Shortlist 2012, Combinatorics 1
Several positive integers are written in a row. Iteratively, Alice chooses two adjacent numbers $x$ and $y$ such that $x>y$ and $x$ is to the left of $y$, and replaces the pair $(x,y)$ by either $(y+1,x)$ or $(x-1,x)$. Prove that she can perform only finitely many such iterations.

Proposed by Warut Suksompong, Thailand
75 replies
lyukhson
Jul 29, 2013
damyan
21 minutes ago
Perfect Squares and a Prime Power
mojyla222   1
N 32 minutes ago by Quantum-Phantom
Source: IDMC 2025 P5
Find all natural numbers $a,b$ such that $a+1$ and $2(b+1)$ are both perfect squares and $a^2+b^2-1$ is a power of a prime number.


Proposed by Amirhossein Bateni
1 reply
mojyla222
Today at 5:07 AM
Quantum-Phantom
32 minutes ago
Inspired by old results
sqing   6
N 34 minutes ago by SunnyEvan
Source: Own
Let $ a,b>0. $ Prove that
$$\frac{(a+1)^2}{b}+\frac{(b+k)^2}{a} \geq4(k+1) $$Where $ k\geq 0. $
$$\frac{a^2}{b}+\frac{(b+1)^2}{a} \geq4$$
6 replies
sqing
Yesterday at 2:43 AM
SunnyEvan
34 minutes ago
Same radius geo
ThatApollo777   3
N 36 minutes ago by ThatApollo777
Source: Own
Classify all possible quadrupes of $4$ distinct points in a plane such the circumradius of any $3$ of them is the same.
3 replies
ThatApollo777
Yesterday at 7:37 AM
ThatApollo777
36 minutes ago
Results on n students with distinct heights
Gloona   1
N an hour ago by quasar_lord
Source: CMI 2023 B4
In a class there are n students with unequal heights.
$\textbf{(a)}$ Find the number of orderings of the students such that the shortest person
is not at the front and the tallest person is not at the end.
$\textbf{(b)}$ Define the badness of an ordering as the maximum number $k$ such that there
are $k$ many people with height greater than in front of a person. For example:
the sequence $66, 61, 65, 64, 62, 70$ has badness $3$ since there are $3$ numbers greater
than $62$ in front of it. Let $f_k(n)$ denote the number of orderings of $n$ with badness $k$. Find $f_k(n)$.
hint
1 reply
Gloona
May 9, 2023
quasar_lord
an hour ago
Iran second round 2025-q1
mohsen   2
N an hour ago by missionjoshi.65
Find all positive integers n>2 such that sum of n and any of its prime divisors is a perfect square.
2 replies
mohsen
Yesterday at 10:21 AM
missionjoshi.65
an hour ago
From Recursion to Inequality
mojyla222   2
N 2 hours ago by missionjoshi.65
Source: IDMC 2025 P2
$\{a_n\}_{n\geq 1}$ is a sequence of real numbers with $a_1=1,\;a_2 =2$ such that for all $n\geq 1$
$$a_{n+2}=\dfrac{a_{n+1}^{2}}{1+a_{n}}+a_{n+1}.$$Prove that

$$\dfrac{1}{1+a_{1}+a_{2}}+\dfrac{1}{1+a_{2}+a_{3}}+\cdots + \dfrac{1}{1+a_{1403}+a_{1404}}>\dfrac{2^{1403}-1}{2^{1404}}.$$
Proposed by Mojtaba Zare
2 replies
mojyla222
Today at 5:01 AM
missionjoshi.65
2 hours ago
Combinatorics
TUAN2k8   3
N 2 hours ago by TUAN2k8
A sequence of integers $a_1,a_2,...,a_k$ is call $k-balanced$ if it satisfies the following properties:
$i) a_i \neq a_j$ and $a_i+a_j \neq 0$ for all indices $i \neq j$.
$ii) \sum_{i=1}^{k} a_i=0$.
Find the smallest integer $k$ for which: Every $k-balanced$ sequence, there always exist two terms whose diffence is not less than $n$. (where $n$ is given positive integer)
3 replies
TUAN2k8
Yesterday at 8:22 AM
TUAN2k8
2 hours ago
Inspired by Bet667
sqing   4
N 2 hours ago by SunnyEvan
Source: Own
Let $x,y\ge 0$ such that $k(x+y)=1+xy. $ Prove that $$x+y+\frac{1}{x}+\frac{1}{y}\geq 4k $$Where $k\geq 1. $
4 replies
sqing
Today at 2:34 AM
SunnyEvan
2 hours ago
R to R FE
a_507_bc   10
N Apr 3, 2025 by jasperE3
Source: Baltic Way 2023/4
Find all functions $f: \mathbb{R} \rightarrow \mathbb{R}$ such that $$f(f(x)+y)+xf(y)=f(xy+y)+f(x)$$for reals $x, y$.
10 replies
a_507_bc
Nov 11, 2023
jasperE3
Apr 3, 2025
R to R FE
G H J
G H BBookmark kLocked kLocked NReply
Source: Baltic Way 2023/4
The post below has been deleted. Click to close.
This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.
a_507_bc
676 posts
#1
Y by
Find all functions $f: \mathbb{R} \rightarrow \mathbb{R}$ such that $$f(f(x)+y)+xf(y)=f(xy+y)+f(x)$$for reals $x, y$.
Z K Y
The post below has been deleted. Click to close.
This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.
SBLNuclear17
75 posts
#2
Y by
Quite an interesting question. Here's my partial solution:
Make x=0, y=-f(0), then we will have f(f(0)-f(0))+0f(-f(0))=f(0*-f(0)-f(0))+f(0).
Which means f(-f(0))=0
Make x=-f(0),y=0, then we will have f(0)^2=0, f(0)=0
Make y=0, then we will know f(f(x))=f(x)
(not sure about the rest)
Z K Y
The post below has been deleted. Click to close.
This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.
Kimchiks926
256 posts
#3 • 5 Y
Y by Tintarn, Deadline, Tellocan, math_comb01, Beeoin
This problem is proposed by me. Hope you all enjoyed it!

Official Solution
Z K Y
The post below has been deleted. Click to close.
This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.
tadpoleloop
311 posts
#4
Y by
I think maybe I can tidy it up a bit.

Solution
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by tadpoleloop, Nov 11, 2023, 9:02 PM
Z K Y
The post below has been deleted. Click to close.
This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.
eulerleonhardfan
50 posts
#5
Y by
Let $p(x,y)$ denote the given assertion.
Since $f(x)=0$ is a solution, suppose that $f$ is not always 0.
$p(x, \frac{f(x)}{x}):$ $f(\frac{f(x)}{x})=\frac{f(x)}{x}$ for all $x\neq 0$
$p(0, -f(0)): f(-f(0))=0$
If $f(0) \neq 0$, then $$f(\frac{f(-f(0))}{-f(0)})=\frac{f(-f(0))}{-f(0)}=0$$Let there be some real number $t \neq 0$ s.t. $f(t) \neq 0$. Then
$$f(\frac{f(\frac{f(t)}{t})}{\frac{f(t)}{t}})=f(\frac{\frac{f(t)}{t}}{\frac{f(t)}{t}})=f(1)=1$$Let there be some real number $u\neq 0$ s.t. $f(u)=0$. This is impossible as $$p(1, u): f(u+1)=u+1$$and $$p(u, 1): f(u+1)=f(2u)+1$$yielding $$f(2u)=u$$Taking $f$ on both sides, we get $f(u)=f(f(2u))=f(2u)=u=0$, a contradiction.
The finishing steps are the same as the official solution.
Z K Y
The post below has been deleted. Click to close.
This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.
megarnie
5583 posts
#6
Y by
Solved with vsamc

The only solutions are $\boxed{f\equiv 0}$ and $\boxed{f(x) = x}$, which both work. Now we prove they are the only solutions. Let $P(x,y)$ denote the given assertion.

We may assume that $f$ is nonconstant since the only constant solution is clearly zero.

For $x\ne 0$, $P\left( x, \frac{f(x)}{x} \right): x f\left( \frac{f(x)}{x} \right) = f(x)$, so $f\left( \frac{f(x)}{x} \right) = \frac{f(x)}{x}$. Let $f(0) = c$.

$P(0,x): f(x + c) = f(x) + c$, so $f(-c) = 0$. If $c\ne 0$, then $\frac{f(-c)}{-c} =0$ is a fixed point of $f$, so $c = 0$.

$P(x,0): f(f(x)) = f(x)$.

$P(f(x), 1): f(f(x) + 1) + f(x)f(1) = f(f(x) + 1) + f(x)\implies f(x) f(1) = f(x)\implies f(1) = 1$. Now let $f(-1) = d$. We see that $f(d) = d$.

$P(-1,x): f(x + d)  = f(x) + d$.

$P(x, d): f(f(x) + d) +  xd = f(xd + d) + f(x)$. Since $f(f(x) + d) = f(f(x)) + d = f(x) +d $, we see $f(xd + d) = xd + d$. If $d\ne 0$, then setting $x$ to $-\frac{1}{d} - 1$ gives $f(-1) = -1$, so $d = -1$, which implies $f(x - 1) = x-1$, so $f$ is the identity. Now we assume $d = 0$.

$P(1,x): f(x +1) + f(x) = f(2x) + 1$. Hence $f(2x) = f(x + 1) + f(x) - 1$ for each $x$. Thus, $f(-2) = f(-1) + f(0) - 1 = -1$. Hence $\frac{f(-2)}{-2} = 2$, so $f(2) = 2$.

$P(x, 2): f(f(x) + 2) + 2x = f(2x + 2) + f(x) = f(x) + f(x+1) + f(x+2) - 1$. Plugging $x = -2$ here gives $f(-1 + 2) - 4 = f(-2) + f(-1) + f(0) - 1$, so $-3= -2$, absurd! Therefore, $d\ne 0$, so $f(x) = x$ is our only nonconstant solution.
This post has been edited 2 times. Last edited by megarnie, Nov 12, 2023, 3:26 PM
Z K Y
The post below has been deleted. Click to close.
This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.
Cali.Math
128 posts
#7
Y by
We uploaded our solution https://calimath.org/pdf/BalticWay2023-4.pdf on youtube https://youtu.be/TPsMv_clprQ.
Z K Y
The post below has been deleted. Click to close.
This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.
solasky
1566 posts
#8
Y by
Solution
Z K Y
The post below has been deleted. Click to close.
This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.
MathLuis
1498 posts
#9
Y by
Denote $P(x,y)$ as the assertion of the following F.E.
By $P(0,-f(0))$ we get $f(-f(0))=0$, now by $P(-f(0),x)$ we get $(1-f(0))f(0)=f(0)$ which gives $f(0)=0$.
Now $P(x.0)$ gives $f(f(x))=f(x)$, $P(-1,x)$ gives $f(x+f(-1))=f(x)+f(-1)$, and for $x \ne 0$ by $P \left(x, \frac{f(x)}{x} \right)$ we get $f \left(\frac{f(x)}{x} \right)=\frac{f(x)}{x}$. Since $f(x)=0$ is a solution suppose there exists $d$ s.t. $f(d) \ne 0$ then by $x=f(d)$ here we get $f(1)=1$ and by $P(1,x)$ we get $f(x+1)+f(x)=f(2x)+1$, now by indooks we get $f(x+nf(-1))=f(x)+nf(-1)$ for any integer $n$ so in the previous equation set $x$ to be $x+nf(-1)$ to get that $f(x+nf(-1)+1)=f(2x)-f(x)+nf(-1)+1$, also remember that $f(nf(-1))=nf(-1)$ and now $f(nf(-1)+1)=nf(-1)+1$ follow directly. From $P(x,nf(-1))$ we get $f(nf(-1)x)=nf(-1)x$ so if $f(-1) \ne 0$ then we get $f(x)=x$ for all reals $x$.
So suppose otherwise that $f(-1)=0$ then $f(-2)=-1$ but this means $f(-1)=-1$ which contradicts $f(-1)=0$.
Therefore the only solutions to this F.E. are $f(x)=x$ and $f(x)=0$ for all reals $x$, thus done :cool:
Z K Y
The post below has been deleted. Click to close.
This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.
Teirah
2 posts
#10
Y by
nice problem : )
Z K Y
The post below has been deleted. Click to close.
This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.
jasperE3
11224 posts
#11
Y by
Let $P(x,y)$ be the assertion $f(f(x)+y)+xf(y)=f(xy+y)+f(x)$.
$P(0,-f(0))\Rightarrow f(-f(0))=0$
$P(-f(0),0)\Rightarrow f(0)=0$
$P(x,0)\Rightarrow f(f(x))=f(x)$
$P(-1,x)\Rightarrow f(x+f(-1))=f(x)+f(-1)$
P(x,f(-1))\Rightarrow f(xf(-1))=xf(-1)$
So if $f(-1)\ne0$ we have the solution $\boxed{f(x)=x}$, which fits. Otherwise:
$P(f(x),1)\Rightarrow f(x)f(1)=f(x)4
So if $f(1)\ne1$ we have the solution $\boxed{f(x)=0}$, which fits. Otherwise:
$P(1,-1)\Rightarrow f(-2)=-1$
$P(-2,1)\Rightarrow-2=-1$
So no more solutions.
Z K Y
N Quick Reply
G
H
=
a