Second order iterative functional equations related to a competition equation (Q2340860)

The authors consider the following functional equation, called competition equation \[ f\Big(\frac{x+y}{1-xy}\Big)=\frac{f(x)+f(y)}{1+f(x)f(y)}, \quad x, y \in \mathbb R, \;xy \neq 1. \] They fix \(c>0\) and investigate the previous equation restricted to the straight line \(y=cx\). The following theorem holds. Theorem. Let \(c>0\) fixed. Suppose that \(f:\mathbb R \to \mathbb R\) is differentiable at \(0\) and \(f(0)=0\). If \(f\) satisfies the functional equation \[ f\Big(\frac{(1+c)x}{1-cx^2}\Big)=\frac{f(x)+f(cx)}{1+f(x)f(cx)}, \quad |x|<\frac{1}{\sqrt c}, \] then there is a \(p \in \mathbb R\) such that \(f=\tanh \circ (p \tan^{-1})\). The case \(c<0\) is then discussed.