The multiplicative solutions of the parallelogram equation (Q1187149)

The only continuous functions \(f:\mathbb{R}\to\mathbb{R}\) satisfying \(f(x+y)+f(x- y)=2f(x)+2f(y)\) and \(f(xy)=f(x)f(y)\) are given by \(f(x)=0\) and \(f(x)=x^ 2\). The authors give the general solution of the above system. Namely it is satisfied by a function \(f:\mathbb{R}\to\mathbb{R}\) if and only if \(f(x)=(\text{Re} w(x))^ 2+(\text{Im} w(x))^ 2\) for all \(x\) in \(\mathbb{R}\), where \(w:\mathbb{C}\to\mathbb{C}\) satisfies the equations \(w(z_ 1+z_ 2)=w(z_ 1)+w(z_ 2)\) and \(w(z_ 1z_ 2)=w(z_ 1)w(z_ 2)\) for every \(z_ 1,z_ 2\) in \(\mathbb{C}\).