I have the following functional equation. Find all continuous functions f:(−1,1)→R such that
f(x+y)=f(x)+f(y)1−f(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))1−tan(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)∈Z⋅π. 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 w≡0, 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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