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Welcome to Brilliant! I just edited your discussion to add a direct link to your problem. You can see what I did by clicking the "edit this discussion" button on your post. Further info on using markdown formatting can be found here.
Well, I can get the discussion started, but I don't have a full answer. It looks like f(x)=1−x2 satisfies the condition. (I rewrote f(y) as a; the 2xa term suggested looking at squares.)
If f(y)=0 for some y, then f(0)=1 (plug into the equation and solve). And in fact, if the range of f is all of R, it's easy to show that f(x)=1−x2: for all x find y such that f(y)=x, then we get f(0)=f(x)+2x2+f(x)−1, and f(0)=1, so f(x)=1−x2. (The same argument shows that regardless of the range of f, f(f(y))=C−f(y)2,, where C=(f(0)+1)/2. )
I'm not sure what to do without the assumption on the range of f, though.
Easy Math Editor
This discussion board is a place to discuss our Daily Challenges and the math and science related to those challenges. Explanations are more than just a solution — they should explain the steps and thinking strategies that you used to obtain the solution. Comments should further the discussion of math and science.
When posting on Brilliant:
*italics*
or_italics_
**bold**
or__bold__
paragraph 1
paragraph 2
[example link](https://brilliant.org)
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\(
...\)
or\[
...\]
to ensure proper formatting.2 \times 3
2^{34}
a_{i-1}
\frac{2}{3}
\sqrt{2}
\sum_{i=1}^3
\sin \theta
\boxed{123}
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Oh also just paste the link I put there, I could not get it work :((
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Hi Igor,
Welcome to Brilliant! I just edited your discussion to add a direct link to your problem. You can see what I did by clicking the "edit this discussion" button on your post. Further info on using markdown formatting can be found here.
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Thank you very much Mr. Taylor! I was directed here by a friend of mine, I can see what he meant by saying the people are friendly :))
Hi! I am new here .Can u plz teel me how to post a problem that we are not able to solve?
Well, I can get the discussion started, but I don't have a full answer. It looks like f(x)=1−x2 satisfies the condition. (I rewrote f(y) as a; the 2xa term suggested looking at squares.)
If f(y)=0 for some y, then f(0)=1 (plug into the equation and solve). And in fact, if the range of f is all of R, it's easy to show that f(x)=1−x2: for all x find y such that f(y)=x, then we get f(0)=f(x)+2x2+f(x)−1, and f(0)=1, so f(x)=1−x2. (The same argument shows that regardless of the range of f, f(f(y))=C−f(y)2,, where C=(f(0)+1)/2. )
I'm not sure what to do without the assumption on the range of f, though.