From Functions to Functions only.

Calculus Level 4

Find number of all continuous functions f : R R f : \mathbb R \rightarrow \mathbb R such that

f ( x ) + f ( x 2 ) = x \large\ f(x) + f(x^2) = x , x [ 0 , 1 ] \forall x \in [0, 1] .


The answer is 0.

This section requires Javascript.
You are seeing this because something didn't load right. We suggest you, (a) try refreshing the page, (b) enabling javascript if it is disabled on your browser and, finally, (c) loading the non-javascript version of this page . We're sorry about the hassle.

1 solution

Tom Engelsman
May 30, 2018

Assuming f ( x ) f(x) is both continuous and differentiable, let y = x 2 y = x^2 such that the above functional equation transforms into:

f ( x ) + f ( y ) = y x f(x) + f(y) = \frac{y}{x}

with the initial conditions at x = 0 , 1 f ( 0 ) + f ( 0 2 ) = 0 f ( 0 ) = 0 x = 0, 1 \Rightarrow f(0) + f(0^2) = 0 \rightarrow f(0) = 0 and f ( 1 ) + f ( 1 2 ) = 1 f ( 1 ) = 1 2 . f(1) + f(1^2) = 1 \rightarrow f(1) = \frac{1}{2}. Differentiating the functional equation with respect to x and y each gives:

f ( x ) = y x 2 f'(x) = -\frac{y}{x^2} (i) and f ( y ) = 1 x f'(y) = \frac{1}{x} (ii)

and equating (i) with (ii) yields:

f ( x ) = y x 2 = y f ( y ) x = A x f'(x) = -\frac{y}{x^2} = -\frac{y \cdot f'(y)}{x} = \frac{A}{x} (iii)

and integrating (iii) produces:

f ( x ) = A l n ( x ) + B f(x) = A \cdot ln(x) + B (iv).

Because we have a logarithmic function, the initial condition f ( 0 ) = 0 f(0) = 0 cannot be applied. The other condition can be applied, which yields:

A l n ( 1 ) + B = 1 2 B = 1 2 A \cdot ln(1) + B = \frac{1}{2} \Rightarrow B = \frac{1}{2} , or f ( x ) = A l n ( x ) + 1 2 . \boxed{f(x) = A \cdot ln(x) + \frac{1}{2}}. (v)

A final substitution of (v) into the original functional equation now produces:

[ A l n ( x ) + 1 2 ] + [ A l n ( x 2 ) + 1 2 ] 3 A l n ( x ) + 1 = x [A \cdot ln(x) + \frac{1}{2}] + [A \cdot ln(x^2) + \frac{1}{2}] \Rightarrow \boxed{3A \cdot ln(x) + 1 = x} ;

which does not hold true for ALL x [ 0 , 1 ] x \in [0,1] . Thus, no such function exists!

0 pending reports

×

Problem Loading...

Note Loading...

Set Loading...