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More notes on a functional equation

Article  in  International Journal of Mathematical Education In Science & Technology · October 2006

DOI: 10.1080/00207390600733873

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 Classroom notes 865

References

[1] Salas, S., Hille, E. and Etgen, G., 2003, Calculus: One Variable, 9th edn (New York:
John Wiley and Sons, Inc.), pp. 611–614, 616.
[2] Spivak, M., 1994, Calculus, 3rd edn (Houston, TX: Publish or Perish, Inc.), pp. 201–202,
210–211.
[3] Stewart, J., 1999, Calculus, 4th edn (Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing
Company), pp. 486–487.
[4] Thomas, G. (revised by M. Weir, J. Hass, and F. Giordano), 2006, Thomas’ Calculus
(Early Transcendentals), 11th edn (Reading, MA: Addison Wesley), pp. 316–320.

More notes on a functional equation

FENG QI*y, JIAN CAOz and DA-WEI NIUz

yResearch Institute of Mathematical Inequality Theory, Henan Polytechnic University,
Jiaozuo City, Henan Province, 454010, China
zSchool of Mathematics and Informatics, Henan Polytechnic University,
Jiaozuo City, Henan Province, 454010, China

(Received 10 August 2005)

This note further discusses the functional equation

f ðxyÞ ¼ xf ðyÞ þ yf ðxÞ

and discusses two generalizations of it.

1. Introduction

The functional equation

f ðxyÞ ¼ xf ðyÞ þ yf ðxÞ ð1Þ

was studied by [1–3] and subsequently by [4]. The general solution is

f ðxÞ ¼ Ax ln jxj ð2Þ

with f ð0Þ ¼ 0 if f (x) is assumed continuous, although there are other solutions that
are everywhere discontinuous [5]. We offer an alternative derivation of this result and
discuss two generalizations.

*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]; [email protected];

[email protected]; [email protected]
866 Classroom notes

2. An alternative approach to equation (1)

For non-zero x and y, rewrite equation (1) in the form

f ðxyÞ f ðyÞ f ðxÞ

¼ þ ð3Þ
xy y x

If we now define

f ðxÞ
ðxÞ ¼ ð4Þ
x

we reach the multiplicative Cauchy functional equation

ðxyÞ ¼ ðxÞ þ ð yÞ ð5Þ

whose general solution (in continuous functions) yields equation (2). Again,
however, discontinuous solutions exist [6, 5], and if !(x) is any discontinuous
solution of equation (5), then f ðxÞ ¼ x!ðxÞ is a solution of equation (1).

3. Generalizations of the functional equation (1)

It is easy to see that the following two functional equations involving n variables are
generalizations of equation (1):
! !
Y
n X
n Y
f xi ¼ xk f xi ð6Þ
i¼1 k¼1 i6¼k

! !
Y
n X Y
f xi ¼ ¼ 1n xi f ðxk Þ ð7Þ
i¼1 k i6¼k

where ðx1 , x2 , . . . , xn Þ 2 Rn and n
2.

If setting n ¼ 2, then (6) and (7) are equivalent to (1).
The functional equations (6) and (7) have a trivial solution f ðxÞ  0 for x 2 R
clearly.
If xi 6¼ 0 for all 1  i  n, then (6) and (7) can be rewritten respectively as

Q 
Q 
n
f i¼1 xi
n f
X i6¼k xi
Qn ¼ Q ð8Þ
i¼1 xi k¼1 i6¼k xi

and

Q 
n
f i¼1 xi X
n
f ðxk Þ
Qn ¼ ð9Þ
i¼1 xi k¼1
xk
 Classroom notes 867

If xi 6¼ 0 for all 1  i  n and setting f ðxÞ ¼ xgðln jxjÞ for x 6¼ 0, where g(x) is a
new unknown function, then (6) and (7) can also be rewritten respectively as
! !
X
n X
n X
g lnjxi j ¼ g lnjxi j ð10Þ
i¼1 k¼1 i6¼k

and
!
X
n X
n
g lnjxi j ¼ gðlnjxk jÞ ð11Þ
i¼1 k¼1

For n
2, letting x1 ¼ x2 ¼    ¼ xn ¼ 1 in (6) yields

f ð1Þ ¼ n f ð1Þ ð12Þ

Hence, f ð1Þ ¼ 0.
For n
3, setting x2 ¼ x3 ¼    ¼ xn ¼ 1 and x1 ¼ x 2 R, then it follows from
(6) that

f ðxÞ ¼ ðn  1Þf ðxÞ ð13Þ

Thus, f ðxÞ ¼ 0 for x 2 R. This means that the functional equation (6) for n
3 has
the unique solution f ðxÞ  0, which is continuous but trivial.
Now it is clear that (9) and (11) are trivially inductive generalizations of

gðln jxj þ ln jyjÞ ¼ gðln jxjÞ þ gðln jyjÞ ð14Þ

whose standard form is

ðx þ yÞ ¼
ðxÞ þ
ð yÞ ð15Þ

and (3) respectively, so we can say that (7) is a trivially inductive generalization
of (1). Further, it is not difficult to verify that these functional equations have a
nonzero continuous solution

x loga x, x 6¼ 0
f ðxÞ ¼ ð16Þ
0, x¼0

for a > 0 and a 6¼ 1.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express their sincere thanks to the anonymous referee for
his/her valuable comments and detailed modifications on this note. The first author
was supported in part by the Science Foundation of Project for Fostering Innovation
Talents at Universities of Henan Province, China.
 868 Classroom notes

References

[1] Ren, Zh.-P., Wu, Zh.-Q., Zhou, Q.-F., Guo, B.-N. and Qi, F., 2004, Some notes on a
functional equation. International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and
Technology, 35, 453–456.
[2] Zhang, Sh.-Q. and Qi, F., 1996, On some generalizations of a mathematical proposition.
Academic Forum of Nandu (Journal of Nanyang Teachers’ College), 16, 65–66. (in
Chinese)
[3] Zhou, Q.-F., Wu, Zh.-Q., Guo, B.-N. and Qi, F., 2003, Notes on a functional equation.
Octogon Mathematics Magazine, 11, 507–510.
[4] Deakin, M.A.B., 2006, More on a functional equation. International Journal of
Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 37, 246–247.
[5] Smital, J., 1988, On Functions and Functional Equations (Bristol: IOP).
[6] Aczél, J., 1966, Lectures on Functional Equations and their Applications (New York:
Academic Press).

On the weighted mean value theorem for integrals

M. POLEZZI*
Universidade Estadual de Mato Grosso do Sul-(UEMS) Rodovia MS 306,
Km 6, Cassilândia, Brazil

(Received 6 July 2005)

1. Introduction

The Mean Value Theorem for Integrals is a powerful tool, which can be used to
prove the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, and to obtain the average value of a
function on an interval. On the other hand, its weighted version is very useful for
evaluating inequalities for definite integrals.
Mean Value Theorem for Integrals: Let f: [a, b] ! R be a continuous function.
Then, there exists a number c 2 (a, b) such that
Z b
fðxÞdx ¼ fðcÞðb  aÞ
a

Thus, if x 2 (a, b), it is possible to choose a number a < cx < x as a function of x

on (a, b) such that
Zx
fðtÞdt ¼ fðcx Þðx  aÞ ð1:1Þ
a

*Email: [email protected]

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