Monday, 28 May 2018

Prove there are no other solutions of functional equation f(x+y)=fracf(x)+f(y)1f(x)f(y)



I have the following functional equation. Find all continuous functions f:(1,1)R such that
f(x+y)=f(x)+f(y)1f(x)f(y)
The first obvious solution is f(x)0. Another one I guessed, it is f(x)=±tanx. I suspect, that there are no more solutions. The problem is that I don't know how to prove that.




Since we have a rational equation, I have no idea how to make any substitutions in order to get expression for tanx (as it is not a rational expression).



P.S. I can also show that it is true that (a) f(0)=0 (take x=y=0), and (b) f(x)=f(x) (take y=x).



Update: there is a solution of this problem also here: https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c6h386060


Answer



Define g(x)=arctan(f(x)), so that f(x)=tan(g(x)). Then g:(1,1)(π/2,π/2) is continuous. The functional equation becomes
tan(g(x+y))=tan(g(x))+tan(g(y))1tan(g(x))tan(g(y))=tan(g(x)+g(y)).
The latter equality used the tangent angle addition formula. It follows that g(x+y)g(x)g(y)Zπ. The function w(x,y):=g(x+y)g(x)g(y) is continuous and discretely-valued on the connected set {(x,y)(1,1)2:x+y(1,1)}, so w must be constant. Since w(0,0)=0, we have w0, and we conclude that
g(x+y)=g(x)+g(y),
for all x, y(1,1) such that x+y(1,1). It is well-known that every continuous real-valued functions on R that preserves addition is of the form multiplication by a constant, and essentially the same proof works for functions on (1,1). I won't write out the details.



Since g takes (1,1) into (π/2,π/2), we must have g(x)=Cx for some C[π/2,π/2]. We conclude that the only solutions to the original equation are
f(x)=tan(Cx)
for C[π/2,π/2]. The cases C=0,±1 are the solutions you found.


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