f(domain) = ?

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f f is a reals to reals function, such that for any integer x x unless 0, these following properties hold

  • f ( x + 1 ) = f ( x ) + 1 f(x+1)=f(x)+1

  • f ( 1 x ) = f ( x ) x 2 f(\frac {1}{x})=\frac {f(x)}{x^2}

Then, find the value of f ( 225 ) f(225) .


The answer is 225.

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1 solution

The idea to solve this problem is to find the formula of function f f .

First, note that property (i) can actually be generalized as f ( x + k ) = f ( x ) + k f(x+k)=f(x)+k . This is according to the following fact that:

  • f ( x + 1 ) = f ( x ) + 1 f(x+1)=f(x)+1

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

  • f ( x + 3 ) = f ( x + 2 ) + 1 = f ( x + 1 ) + 2 = f ( x ) + 3 f(x+3)=f(x+2)+1=f(x+1)+2=f(x)+3 , etc.

By the generalization above, our next step is to express 1 x \frac {1}{x} --from the property (ii)--to be of the form x + k x+k .

1 x = x + k \frac {1}{x}=x+k

k = 1 x x = 1 x 2 x k=\frac {1}{x}-x=\frac {1-x^2}{x}

Hence, now we have 1 x = x + 1 x 2 x \frac {1}{x}=x+\frac {1-x^2}{x} . Our generalization is now ready to applied.

f ( 1 x ) = f ( x + 1 x 2 x ) = f ( x ) + 1 x 2 x . . . ( ) f(\frac {1}{x})=f(x+\frac {1-x^2}{x})=f(x)+\frac {1-x^2}{x}...(*)

Recall propertiy (ii) and combine it with ( ) (*) to get,

f ( 1 x ) = f ( x ) x 2 = f ( x ) + 1 x 2 x f(\frac {1}{x})=\frac {f(x)}{x^2}=f(x)+\frac {1-x^2}{x}

Move f ( x ) f(x) from the left-most side to the center side to get,

f ( x ) x 2 f ( x ) = 1 x 2 x \frac {f(x)}{x^2}-f(x)=\frac {1-x^2}{x}

Put the f ( x ) f(x) out,

f ( x ) ( 1 x 2 1 ) = 1 x 2 x f(x)(\frac {1}{x^2}-1)=\frac {1-x^2}{x}

Continuing,

f ( x ) ( 1 x 2 x 2 ) = 1 x 2 x f(x)(\frac {1-x^2}{x^2})=\frac {1-x^2}{x}

f ( x ) = x \Leftrightarrow f(x)=x

And at last we easily have f ( 225 ) = 225 f(225)=\boxed{225}

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