50 Functional Equations for the Seasoned Contestant

Gabriel Goh∗
September 2023

1 Introduction
Complaints against Functional Equations are not unusual, and comments such as “every FE is boring
nowadays”1 or “very very extremely ridiculous standard FE”2 have emerged whenever a “classic” FE
appears in a reputable contest. While it is unfortunately true that FEs require a lot more “bashing”
and less “insight” then most other olympiad subtopics, every once in a while an FE materialises
which challenges (or even shatters) this notion. I usually categorise these into two types:
1. FEs that look standard, yet have some surprising twist or some idea that requires way more
intuition and creativity than the norm. Here one thinks of IMO’17/2 as the most well-known
example.
2. FEs whose problem statement just challenge convention, and the best IMO example here would
be IMO’22/2 (which, once you ignore the fact that it’s a problem 2, is a pretty neat problem).
Usually these problems entail the ‘E’ of ‘FE’ not being a strict equation, but more of a freestyle
‘condition’.
These constitute my favourite types of FEs , and they are a refreshing break from the usual plug-
and-chug questions. Now that I have finished my contestant journey, I took some time to compile
them. I have ordered them roughly by difficulty, according to my highly subjective opinions. Please
note that this is definitely not meant to be a problem set for learning FEs - there are handouts for
that3,4 . I tried to include the source wherever possible, and a link if the source is sufficiently obscure.
Most of the problems are very recent, both because FE proposals are getting quirkier and because
these are the problems I grew up with. I also included several “classic” questions for completeness5 .
Enjoy!

∗ You can find me as gghx on both AoPS and discord

1 https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c6h1954632p13509989
2 https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c6h1876068p12745214
3 https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c6h411461p2308754
4 https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c6h1592427p9873821
5 And I may have sneaked in a few of my originals :p

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2 Problems
1. (EMC(J) 20146 ) Find all functions f : N → N such that
• f (mn) = f (m)f (n) for all positive integers m, n.
• There are infinitely many n such that f (1), f (2), · · · , f (n) is a permutation of 1, 2, · · · , n.

2. (IMOC 20237 ) Find all functions f : N → N such that for all positive integers n, there exists
an unique positive integer k satisfying

f k (n) ≤ n + k + 1.

3. (NICE MO 20218 ) For each prime p, let Sp = {1, 2, . . . , p − 1}. Find all primes p for which
there exists a function f : Sp → Sp such that

n · f (n) · f (f (n)) − 1 is a multiple of p

4. (ELMO SL 20199 ) Let f : N → N. Show that f (m) + n | f (n) + m for all positive integers
m ≤ n if and only if f (m) + n | f (n) + m for all positive integers m ≥ n.

5. (FEOO SL 202010 ) Let k be a fixed positive integer. Find all functions f : N → N such that
for any distinct positive integers a1 , a2 , ..., ak , there exist a permutation of its b1 , b2 , ..., bk such
that,
f (a1 ) f (a2 ) f (ak )
+ + ... +
b1 b2 bk
is a positive integer.

6. (Taiwan TST R1 2022) Find all f : Z → Z such that

   
f (x) + f (y) f (x) + f (y)
f + f (x) = f (f (y)) +
2 2

holds for all x, y ∈ Z.

7. (Japan MO 2020) Find all functions f : N → N such that

m2 + f (n)2 + (m − f (n))2 ≥ f (m)2 + n2

for all pairs of positive integers (m, n).

8. (IMO 2022) Let R+ denote the set of positive real numbers. Find all functions f : R+ → R+
such that for each x ∈ R+ , there is exactly one y ∈ R+ satisfying

xf (y) + yf (x) ≤ 2

9. (Israel TST 2019) Find all functions f : R → R≥0 such that for any reals x, y,

f (f (x) − y 2 ) + f (2xy) = f (x2 + y 2 ).

6 https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c6h2759347p24127944
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8 https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c1806461h2516372p21323591
9 https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c6h1864642p12623620
10 https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c6h2129239p15548089

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10. (Japan MO 2023) Let m be a positive integer. Find all functions f : N → N such that for any
n ∈ N, there are exactly f (n) positive integers k satisfying f (k) ≤ f (n + 1) + m.

11. (InfinityDots MO 201811 ) Determine all bijections f : Z → Z satisfying

f f (m+n) (mn) = f (m)f (n)

for all integers m, n.

12. (Taiwan TST 202212 ) Let X be the collection of all non-empty subsets (not necessarily finite)
of the positive integer set N. Determine all functions f : X → R+ satisfying the following
properties:
(a) For all S, T ∈ X with S ⊆ T , there holds f (T ) ≤ f (S).
(b) For all S, T ∈ X , there hold

f (S) + f (T ) ≤ f (S + T ), f (S)f (T ) = f (S · T ),

where S + T = {s + t | s ∈ S, t ∈ T } and S · T = {s · t | s ∈ S, t ∈ T }.

13. (MOMO 202013 ) Suppose that there exist a nonempty set X ⊂ R and a function f : X → X
satisfying
f (x) + y ∈ X if and only if x ̸= y
for every x, y ∈ X. Prove that f (x) + x is constant while x varies on X.

14. (Japan MO 2009) Find all functions f : R≥0 → R≥0 such that for any non-negative reals x, y,

f (x2 ) + f (y) = f (x2 + y + xf (4y)).

15. (China TST 2018) Functions f, g : Z → Z satisfy

f (g(x) + y) = g(f (y) + x)

for any integers x, y. If the range of f is finite, prove that g is periodic.

16. (MEMO 2020) Let N be the set of positive integers. Determine all positive integers k for which
there exist functions f : N → N and g : N → N such that g assumes infinitely many values and
such that
f g(n) (n) = f (n) + k
holds for every positive integer n.

17. (Canada MO 2021) A function f from the positive integers to the positive integers is called
Canadian if it satisfies
gcd (f (f (x)), f (x + y)) = gcd(x, y)
for all pairs of positive integers x and y. Find all positive integers m such that f (m) = m for
all Canadian functions f .

11 https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c6h1623904p10173500
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18. (ISL 2017) Let S be a finite set, and let A be the set of all functions from S to S. Let f be an
element of A, and let T = f (S) be the image of S under f . Suppose that f ◦ g ◦ f ̸= g ◦ f ◦ g
for every g in A with g ̸= f . Show that f (T ) = T .

19. (SEIF 202214 ) Let 2[n] denote the set of subsets of [n] := {1, 2, . . . , n}. Find all functions
f : 2[n] → 2[n] which satisfy
|A ∩ f (B)| = |B ∩ f (A)|
for all subsets A and B of [n].

20. (USEMO 202015 ) A function f from the set of positive real numbers to itself satisfies

f (x + f (y) + xy) = xf (y) + f (x + y)

for all positive real numbers x and y. Prove that f (x) = x for all positive real numbers x.

21. (AoPS user TLP.3916 ) Find all functions f : N → N such that

2
n
X
f (i) = n2 f (n)
i=1

for all n ∈ N.

22. (Singapore MO 2022) Find all functions f : Z+ → Z+ satisfying

m!! + n!! | f (m)!! + f (n)!!

for each m, n ∈ Z+ , where n!! = (n!)! for all n ∈ Z+ .

23. (Summer MO 202017 ) Let p > 2 be a fixed prime number. Find all functions f : Z → Zp ,
where the Zp denotes the set {0, 1, . . . , p − 1}, such that p divides f (f (n)) − f (n + 1) + 1 and
f (n + p) = f (n) for all integers n.

24. (Brazil MO 2019) Find all functions f : R+ → R+ such that for any positive reals x, y,

f (xy + f (x)) = f (f (x)f (y)) + x.

25. (Balkan MO 2022) Find all functions f : (0, ∞) → (0, ∞) such that

f (y(f (x))3 + x) = x3 f (y) + f (x)

for all x, y > 0.

26. (IMOC 201918 ) Find all functions f : N → N so that

f 2f (b) (2a) = f (f (a + b)) + a + b

holds for all positive integers a, b.

14 https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c6h2800059p24662655
15 https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c6h2318789p18486884
16 https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c6h2772397p24313301
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18 https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c6h2651731p22956810

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27. (Japan MO 2020) Find all functions f : N → N such that there exists a positive constant c
satisfying
gcd(f (m) + n, f (n) + m) > c(m + n)
for all positive integers m, n.

28. (HMIC 202319 ) Suppose f : N → N is a function such that for any positive integers m, n,

f (m + n) | f (m)f (n) − 1.

Show that for all sufficiently large positive integers n, f (n) = 1.

29. (KoMaL A.82520 modified) Find all functions f : Z+ → R+ such that for any positive integer
m, n, f (mn) = f (m)f (n) and lim f (n+1)
f (n) = 1.
n→∞

30. (ISL 2022) Let R be the set of real numbers. We denote by F the set of all functions f : R → R
such that
f (x + f (y)) = f (x) + f (y)
for every x, y ∈ R Find all rational numbers q such that for every function f ∈ F, there exists
some z ∈ R satisfying f (z) = qz.

31. (ISL 2015) Let Z>0 denote the set of positive integers. Consider a function f : Z>0 → Z>0 .
For any m, n ∈ Z>0 we write f n (m) = f (f (. . . f (m) . . .)). Suppose that f has the following
| {z }
n
two properties:
f n (m)−m
(a) if m, n ∈ Z>0 , then n ∈ Z>0 ;
(b) The set Z>0 \ {f (n) | n ∈ Z>0 } is finite.
Prove that the sequence f (1) − 1, f (2) − 2, f (3) − 3, . . . is periodic.

32. (GAMO 202221 ) Find all functions f : N → N such that for any positive integers x, y,

f f (x)+y (y) = f (x + y) + y.

33. (APMO 2021) Determine all Functions f : Z → Z such that f (f (a) − b) + bf (2a) is a perfect
square for all integers a and b.

34. (ISL 2020) Find all functions f : Z → Z satisfying

2
+b2
fa (a + b) = af (a) + bf (b)

for all integers a and b.

35. (Israel TST 2023) Find all functions f : Z → Z>0 for which

f (x + f (y))2 + f (y + f (x))2 = f (f (x) + f (y))2 + 1

holds for any x, y ∈ Z.

19 https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c6h3059765p27587392
20 https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c6h2842657p25183546
21 https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c6h2845189p25210898

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36. (China MO 2021) Find f : N → N, such that for any x, y ∈ Z+ ,

f (f (x) + y) | x + f (y).

37. (USATSTST 2022) Let N denote the set of positive integers. Find all functions f : N → Z such
that  
f (mn)
= f (m)
n
for all positive integers m, n.

38. (EMC 2020) Find all functions f : R+ → R+ such that

xf (x + y) + f (xf (y) + 1) = f (xf (x))

for all x, y ∈ R+ .

39. (IMOC 202222 ) Let the set of all bijective functions taking positive integers to positive integers
be B. Find all functions F : B → R such that

(F(p) + F(q))2 = F(p ◦ p) + F(p ◦ q) + F(q ◦ p) + F(q ◦ q)

for all p, q ∈ B.

40. (RMM 2012) Each positive integer is coloured red or blue. A function f from the set of positive
integers to itself has the following two properties:
• if x ≤ y, then f (x) ≤ f (y); and
• if x, y and z are (not necessarily distinct) positive integers of the same colour and x+y = z,
then f (x) + f (y) = f (z).
Prove that there exists a positive number a such that f (x) ≤ ax for all positive integers x.

41. (IMO 2017) Determine all functions f : R → R such that, for any real numbers x and y,

f (f (x)f (y)) + f (x + y) = f (xy).

42. (IMOC 202223 ) Find all functions f : R+ → R+ such that

f (x + y)f (f (x)) = f (1 + yf (x))

for all x, y ∈ R+ .

43. (Macedonia TST 202224 ) We consider all functions f : N → N such that f (f (n) + n) = n and
f (a + b − 1) ≤ f (a) + f (b) for all positive integers a, b, n. Prove that there are at most two
values for f (2022).

44. (Korea Winter Program 201925 ) Find all functions f : R+ → R+ such that if a, b, c are the
length sides of a triangle, and r is the radius of its incircle, then f (a), f (b), f (c) also form a
triangle where its radius of the incircle is f (r).

22 https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c6h2918274p26069694
23 https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c6h2918270p26069674
24 https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c6h2849151p25254155
25 https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c6h1766848p11573447

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45. (IRN-SGP-TWN 202326 ) Find all f : Z[x] → Z[x] such that for any integer polynomials P, Q
and integer r we have
P (r) | Q(r) ⇐⇒ fP (r) | fQ (r).
(We define a|b if and only if b = za for some integer z. In particular, 0|0.)

Remark: Take note this is not division in the polynomial sense. fP is shortform for f (P ),
because f (P )(r) just dosen’t look right.

46. (SEIF 202227 ) Find all functions f : N → N such that for any m, n ∈ N,

f f (m) (n) | m + n + 1.
Qk
47. (ISL 2015) For every positive integer n with prime factorization n = i=1 pα
i , define
i

X
℧(n) = αi .
i: pi >10100

That is, ℧(n) is the number of prime factors of n greater than 10100 , counted with multiplicity.

Find all strictly increasing functions f : Z → Z such that

℧(f (a) − f (b)) ≤ ℧(a − b) for all integers a and b with a > b.

48. (USATST 2014) Find all functions f : N → Z such that for any positive integers m, n,

(m − n)(f (m) − f (n))

is always the square of an integer.

49. (USAMO 2022) Let R>0 be the set of all positive real numbers. Find all functions f : R>0 →
R>0 such that for all x, y ∈ R>0 we have

f (x) = f (f (f (x)) + y) + f (xf (y))f (x + y).

50. (GIMO 202128 ) Determine all functions f mapping positive reals to positive reals such that

f (x)f (x + 2f (y)) = xf (x + y) + f (x)f (y)

for all positive reals x, y.

26 https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c6h3112293p28153628
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3 Bonus
(ELMO 2019 P6) Carl chooses a functional expression* E which is a finite nonempty string formed
from a set x1 , x2 , . . . of variables and applications of a function f , together with addition, subtraction,
multiplication (but not division), and fixed real constants. He then considers the equation E = 0,
and lets S denote the set of functions f : R → R such that the equation holds for any choices of real
numbers x1 , x2 , . . . . (For example, if Carl chooses the functional equation

f (2f (x1 ) + x2 ) − 2f (x1 ) − x2 = 0,

then S consists of one function, the identity function.

(a) Let X denote the set of functions with domain R and image exactly Z. Show that Carl can
choose his functional equation such that S is nonempty but S ⊆ X.

(b) Can Carl choose his functional equation such that |S| = 1 and S ⊆ X?

*These can be defined formally in the following way: the set of functional expressions is the minimal
one (by inclusion) such that (i) any fixed real constant is a functional expression, (ii) for any positive
integer i, the variable xi is a functional expression, and (iii) if V and W are functional expressions,
then so are f (V ), V + W , V − W , and V · W .