MPOTD 409

Sohail is tinkering around with a function f . Suddenly, he realizes that his function satises the equation f (x + y) + f (xy) = f (x)f (y) + 1 for all pairs of natural values x and y. Find all possible values of f (2012). 409.1 Changes from the original problem The problem originally did not restrict x and y to be natural. I couldnt gure out a way to enumerate the f (x) with x monotonically increasing nor nd a unique f (0), so I restricted their domain to disregard negative integers. 409.2 Solution Sketch Attempt (Hint: When you see fn , it means f (n)) Consider f (n), we rst nd f (0) by (x = n, y = 0) and substituting into f (x + y) + f (xy) = f (x)f (y) + 1 fn + f0 = f0 fn + 1 f0 f0 fn = 1 fn f0 (1 fn ) = 1 fn f0 = 1 Next, we consider the pair (x = n 1, y = 1) and substitute into f (x + y) + f (xy) = f (x)f (y) + 1 f ((n 1) + (1)) + f ((n 1) (1)) = f (n 1)f (1) + 1 f (n) + f (n 1) = f (1)f (n 1) + 1 f (n) = f (1) f (n 1) 1 f (n 1) + 1 f (n) = f (n 1)(f (1) 1) + 1 This gives us a clue: 1. If we determine a value for f (1), we can nd the value of any f (n) = f (n1)(f (1) 1) + 1 by substituting f (n 1) = f (n 2)(f (1) 1) + 1 and so on. For example, f (4) = f (3)(f (1) 1) + 1 = (f (2)(f (1) 1) + 1)(f (1) 1) + 1 = ((f (1)(f (1) 1) + 1)(f (1) 1) + 1)(f (1) 1) + 1 If we let x = f (1) 1, then the above becomes f (n) = xf (n 1) + 1 f (1) = x + 1 The above recurrence is equivalent to the function

f (2) = xf (1) + 1 = x(x + 1) + 1 = x2 + x + 1 f (3) = x(x(x + 1) + 1) + 1 = x3 + x + 1 times f (n) = xn + xn1 + n . . . +x + 1

n

= = x

xi
i=0 n+1

1 x1 Finally, we need to lter out the x s that do not work. I chose to look at all of the even numbers 2n.1 f (n + n) + f (n n) = f (n)f (n) + 1 f (2n) + f (n2 ) = f (n)2 + 1 x
2n+1

substitute in the expression for f(n) from above +1

1 1 x + = x1 x1

n2 +1

n+1

1 x1

Now, I have absolutely no idea how to solve this analytically, but we can reduce our solution space by trying out a few values of n to eliminate the x that we know cant work. The n = 1 case is the same as (x = 1, y = 2 1), which is already considered when we came up with this expression. Dont believe me? Check for yourself Now, the rst nontrivial case is n = 2. x22+1 1 x2 +1 1 + = x1 x1 x5 1 2 = x1
2n+1 n2 +1 1 2

x2+1 1 x1 x3 1 x1
xn+1 1 x1 2 2

+1 +1

This has the solutions x = 0, x = 1. This is good enough for me, lets check whether these solutions satisfy all of x x11 + x For x = 0, we can simply plug it in
2

x1

+ 1.
2

02n+1 1 0n +1 1 ? 0n+1 1 + = 01 01 01 1 1 ? 1 + = +1 1 1 1 2=2

+1

For x = 1, we get an undened expression, lets take the limit instead.

1 In reality, I should have looked at all possible calls to f , but for simplicitys sake, I decided to only look at these two cases, which gives us two solutions. Since the prompt asked for solutions in plural, I decided somewhat arbitrarily that two is enough.

xn +1 1 ? x2n+1 1 + lim lim = lim x1 x1 x1 x1 x1 Using LHopitals, we nd the rst term to be

xn+1 1 x1

+1

x2n+1 1 (2n + 1)x2n = lim = 2n + 1 x1 x1 x1 1 lim Similarly (n2 + 1)xn xn +1 1 = lim = n2 + 1 lim x1 x1 x1 1 On the right hand side, we apply the same argument lim xn+1 1 x1
2
2 2

x1

xn+1 1 lim x1 x 1

= (n + 1)2

Because (n + 1)2 + 1 = n2 + 2n + 1 + 1 = n2 + 2n + 2 = 2n + 1 + n2 + 1, we have also shown that x = 1 is also a solution. What does this mean for us? x = f (1) 1, so this means that only f (1) = 1 and f (1) = 2 gives solutions to our problem. For x = 0, f (2012) = 1 + 0 + 02 + 03 + 2012 +02 012 = 1. Similarly, for x = 1, ... 2 3 2012 +12 012 = 1 + 2012. f (2012) = 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + . . . 409.3 Solutions Therefore, f (2012) can be either 1 or 2013.