Saturday, 11 June 2016

functional equations - Solutions to g(ab)=ag(b)+bg(a) - "Zero function question"



This question was recently asked and then voluntarily removed by its author. I thought it was interesting enough to get an answer. The question was as follows:





"The function g:RR satisfies g(ab)=ag(b)+bg(a)"



For this equation, am I right in assuming that the function , g, is a zero function?



I'm trying to prove that any input of g would equal zero, say g(1)=0. I can only see this working if I assume, or prove that g is a zero function.




The comments pointed out that the cases a=b=0 and a=b=1 immediately give us g(0)=g(1)=0. However, that's not the end of the story...


Answer



Yes, there is a nonzero solution: For any constant c, let g(x)=cxlog|x| for x0 and g(0)=0.




If g is not required to be continuous, then I believe there are more solutions of the form g(x)=xf(log|x|), where f is a solution to Cauchy's functional equation. I haven't worked out this part, but it's something to go on.


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