50 Functional Equations

1 Definitions
1. N is the set of positive integers.
2. N ∪ {0} = N0 is the set of non-negative integers.
3. Z is the set of integers.
4. Q is the set of rational numbers.
5. R+ is the set of positive real numbers.
6. R0 is the set of nonnegative real numbers.
7. R is the set of real numbers.
8. ∀x is the short from of for all x.
9. ∃x is the short from of there exists x.
10. s.t. is the short form of such that.
11. WLOG is the short form of without loss of generality.
12. [x] denotes the largest integer that is not greater than x.


13. For a function f and set S, f (S) = {f (x) | x ∈ S }
14. If a function f is defined on the set A to the set B, we write f : A B and read f is a


function from the set A to the set B.
15. If f : A B, then A and B are the Domain and Range of f , respectively. And C = f (A)


is called the Co-domain of f .
16. A function f : A B is called surjectve if B = f (A), is called injective if for all x, y ∈ A,

  f (x) if (∀ε > 0)(∃δ > 0)(∀x ∈ A), |x − c| < δ 

 
|f (x) − y | < ε.
18. f : [a, b] R is called continuous if (∀x ∈ [a, b])(∀ε > 0)(∃δ > 0) s.t. |x − y | < δ


|f (x) − f (y)| < ε.
19. f : A R is called differentiable at x if the limit f ′(x) = limh 0  f (x + h) − f (x)
h
exists.
And if f is differentiable at x, f ′(x) is called it’s derivative or first differential.

2 Basic(Trivial) Functions and Their Children


[In this section, assume that all functions are continuous]


1. f : R R, f (x + y) = f (x) + f (y) for all x, y ∈R


2. f : R R, f (x + y) = f (x)f (y) for all x, y ∈R


3. f : R+ R, f (xy) = f (x) + f (y) for all x, y ∈R+


4. f : R R, f (xy) = f (x)f (y) for all x, y ∈R
x+y
f (x) + f (y)


5. f : R R, f 2 = 2
for all x, y ∈R
6. f : R R, f (x + y) + f (x − y) = 2f (x)f (y) for all x, y ∈R

7. f : R+   
x
R, f (x)f (y) = f (xy) + f y for all x, y ∈R+

1
2 Section 5

8. f : R  R, f
p 
x2 + y 2 = f (x)f (y) for all x, y ∈R



9. f : R R, f (0) = 0, f (1) = 1, f (a) + f (b) = f (a)f (b) + f (a + b − ab) for all a, b ∈R
x+y
2 f (x)f (y)
10. f : R+ R+, f 2 = f (x) + f (y) for all x, y ∈R+

3 Functions involving Natural Number


2. Find a function f : N N such that, f (f (n)) = 2n for all n ∈ N


3. f : N N, f (m)2 + f (n) | (m2 + n)2 for all m, n ∈ N


4. f : N N, f (f (a) + f (b)) = a + b − 1 for all a, b ∈ N
5. f : N N, for all a, b ∈ N there exists a non-degenerate triangle with side length a, f (b),
f (b + f (a) − 1).

4 Elementary Non-trivial Functions


Find all functions f : R R such that, g(f (x + y)) = g(f (x)) + g(f (y)) for all x, y ∈R
2. f : R R, (f (x) + f (z))(f (y) + f (t)) = f (xy + zt) + f (xt − yz) for all x, y, z , t ∈R

 x+y


2xy



3. f : R+ R+, f continuous, f (x) + f (y) = f 2 + f x + y for all x, y ∈R+


4. f : R R, f (x + y) = max {f (x), y } + min {f (y), x} for all x, y ∈R


5. f : R R, f (x − f (y)) = f (f (y)) + xf (y) + f (x) − 1 for all x, y ∈R
6. f : R R, f (x) ≥ ex for all x ∈ R and f (x + y) ≥ f (x)f (y) for all x, y ∈R

 
7. Prove that there are no functions f , g such that, f (g(x)) = x2 and g(f (x)) = x3 for all x ∈ R.
8. Does there exist any continuous function f : R R such that, f (x) ∈ Q x Q ?

9. f : R+    
R+, f yf y
x x 4
= f (y) for all x, y ∈R+

5 Advanced Functions


1. f : R R, |f (x) − f (y)| ≤ (x − y)2 for all x, y ∈ R
n  o
x 


2. f : R R, f (x + f (y)) = y + f (x) for all x, y ∈R and the set f (x)  x ∈ R is finite.
x
y

3. f : R+ R, f (x)f (y) = y αf 2 + x βf 2 for some constant α, β ∈ R and for all x, y ∈R+

4. f : R+   
x
R, xf (y) − yf (x) = f y for all x, y ∈R+



5. f : R R, f (f (x) − y 2) = f (x)2 − 2 f (x)y 2 + f (f (y)) for all x, y ∈R
6. f : R R, f (f (x) + y) = xf (1 + xy) for all x, y ∈R

 
x + f (x)



7. f : R R, f 2
+ y + f (2z) = 2x − f (x) + f (f (y)) + 2f (z) for all x, y, z ∈R


8. f : R R, f surjective and strictly increasing, f (f (x)) = f (x) + 12x. for all x ∈R


9. f : R R, f (x + y 2) ≥ (y + 1)f (x)2 for all x, y ∈R
10. f : R R, f (y)f (xf (y)) = f (xy) for all x, y ∈R
Extreme Functions! 3



11. f : R R, f (x)f (y) ≤ |x − y | for all x ∈ Q and y  Q


12. f : R R, f (x + y) ≤ yf (x) + f (f (x)), Prove that f (x) = 0 for all x ≤ 0


13. f : R R, f ((x + 1)f (y)) = y(f (x) + 1) for all x, y ∈R


14. f : R+ R+, f (x + y) ≥ f (x) + yf (f (x)) for all x, y ∈R+
1


15. f : R+ × R+ R+, xf (x, y)f y, x = yf (y, x) for all x, y ∈R+


16. f : R+ R+, f (x)2 ≥ f (x + y)(f (x) + y) for all x, y ∈R+


17. f : R R, f (xy)(f (x) − f (y)) = f (x)f (y)(x − y) for all x, y ∈R
18. Prove that there doesn’t exist any function f : R R, such that,
• f (1) = 1
• ∃M ∈ R+ s.t. |f (x)| ≤ M ∀x ∈ R
1
1

• f x + x2 = f (x) + f x 2 for all x ∈ R
 R x


19. f : R0 R and f (x) ≤ 0 f (t) dt for all x ≥ 0. Prove that, f (x) = 0 for all x ≥ 0
f (x) + xn
20. f : R+ R+, f (x + yn + f (x)) = f (x) , ∈ Q for all x, y ∈R+


f (y) + y n

21. f : R+ R+, f (x + yn + f (x)) = f (x) for all x, y ∈R+

6 Extreme Functions!
1. Find all functions f : R+  R+, such that,


f (x − f (y)) = f (x + yn) + f (y + f (y)) for all x, y ∈ R+ and a fixed positive integer n ≥ 2.
2. Find all continuous functions f : R+ R+, such that, f (xf (y) + y f (x)) = f (f (xy)) for
all x, y ∈ R+
x2 − f (x)2


3. f is a function such that f ′(x) = x2(f (x)2 + 1) for all x > 1. Prove that, limx ∞ f (x) = ∞


4. Is there any strictly increasing function f : R+ R+, such that, f ′(x) = f (f (x)) ?
5. f : R+ R+ such that,
• f (x) = x if x ≤ e
• f (x) = xf (ln x) if x > e
P∞ 1
Prove that n=1 f (x) diverges.

Dhananjoy Biswas
[email protected]