Find all functions $ f: \mathbb{N} \rightarrow \mathbb{N}\; $ satisfying
$$ f(f(f(n))) + 6f(n) = 3f(f(n)) + 4n + 2001 , \forall n \in\mathbb{N} $$
After some trial and error I assumed the solution to be of the form $ f(n) = n + r\;$ which gave me $ f(n) = n + 667\; $ as a solution but I am unable to come up with any other solutions. How would you guys solve this problem?
Thanks in advance.
Answer
Given $n \in \mathbb{N}$, define
$$ g_n(d) = f^{(d)}(n) - 667d. $$
Routine computation yields the recurrence equation
$$ g_n(d+3) = 3g_n(d+2) - 6g_n(d+1) + 4g_n(d). $$
The characteristic polynomial is
$$ x^3 - 3x^2 + 6x - 4 = (x-1)(x^2-2x+4). $$
The two roots of $x^2-2x+4$ are $2e^{\pm i \pi/3}$.
It follows from the general theory of recurrence relations that for some real $A,B$ and angle $\theta$,
$$g_n(d) = A + B2^d \cos (d\pi/3 + \theta).$$
The cosine part is a periodic function in $d$ attaining $6$ fixed values, at least one of them strictly positive and at least one strictly negative. In particular, if $B \neq 0$ then for some $e \in \{0,\ldots,5\}$ we have
$$C \triangleq B\cos (e\pi/3 + \theta) < 0.$$
This implies that
$$f^{(6d+e)}(n) = g_n(6d+e) + 4002d + 667e = A + 2^d C + 4002d + 667e $$
is eventually negative. This contradicts the premise that $f \geq 0$, and so $B = 0$. Substituting $d = 0$ in the formula for $g_n$, we deduce that $g_n(d) = A = n$ and so
$$ f^{(d)}(n) = n + 667d. $$
In particular, $f(n) = n + 667$.
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