Cauchy type functional equations related to some associative rational functions (Q2180839)

A rational function \(F : D \to \mathbb{R}\), where \(D \subset \mathbb{R}^{2}\) is a given nonempty set, is called associative if and only if it satisfies \[ F (x, F (y, z)) = F (F (x, y), z) \] for all \((x, y, z) \in \mathbb{R}\) such that \((x, y), (y, z), (x, F (y, z)), (F (x, y), z) \in D\). An associative rational function is often called an associative operation. Let us consider the functional equation \[ f (F (x, y)) = f (x) + f (y),\tag{\(E\)} \] where \(f : I \to \mathbb{R}\) denotes the unknown function, \(I \subset \mathbb{R}\) is an interval, \(F : D \to I\) is a given rational associative function and \((x, y) \in D \subset \mathbb{R}^{2}\). In [Glas. Mat., III. Ser. 25(45), No. 1, 57--67 (1990; Zbl 0733.39008)] the local solutions of the generalized Cauchy equation \((E)\) were found by \textit{L. Losonczi} for the following class of operations: \[ F(x, y)= \frac{xy + 1}{x+y} \quad\text{and}\quad F(x, y)= \frac{xy -1}{x+y}. \] These are called local solutions, i.e., equation \((E)\) is satisfied not necessarily on the whole domain of the definition of the operation \(F\) but only on some subsets. The aim of the present paper is to describe the local solutions of equations \[ f\left(\frac{xy}{x+y+\beta}\right)= f(x)+f(y)\tag{\(E_1\)} \] and \[ f\left(\frac{xy+\alpha}{x+y}\right)= f(x)+f(y), \tag{\(E_2\)} \] where \(\alpha, \beta\in \mathbb{R}\) are fixed. The author shows that the unique solution \(f: \mathbb{R}\to \mathbb{R}\) of the functional equation \[ f\left(\frac{xy}{x+y+\beta}\right)= f(x)+f(y) \quad \left(x, y\in \mathbb{R}, x+y+\beta \neq 0\right) \] is the constant function (see Theorem 1). In Theorem 2 she proves that the unique solution \(f: \mathbb{R}\to \mathbb{R}\) of the functional equation \[ f\left(\frac{xy+\alpha}{x+y}\right)= f(x)+f(y)\quad \left(x, y\in \mathbb{R}, x+y\neq 0\right) \] is of the form \[ f(x)= \begin{cases} 0, & \text{if \(x\neq 0\)}\\ c, & \text{if \(x=0\)} \end{cases} \] with a certain constant \(c\in \mathbb{R}\). Finally the author considers the above functional equations on restricted domains and shows that on such domains locally non-constant solutions do exist.