Invariance of the arithmetic mean with respect to special mean-type mappings (Q2490648)

Let \(I\subseteq (0, \infty)\) be an interval and \(f:I\to \mathbb R\) a continuous, strictly monotonic function, then \[ M_f(x,y):=f^{-1}\left(\frac{xf(x)+yf(y)}{x+y}\right),\quad x,y\in I, \] is a continuous, strict, symmetric mean. The main result of the paper is the following. Let \(f,g\) be strictly monotonic and four times differentiable functions on \(I\subseteq (0, \infty)\), then the functional equation \[ f^{-1}\left(\frac{xf(x)+yf(y)}{x+y}\right)+g^{-1}\left(\frac{xg(x)+yg(y)}{x+y}\right) =x+y,\quad x,y\in I, \] holds if and only if \[ F(x)=C_1x^{-1}+B_1 \quad\text{and} \quad g(x)=C_2x^{-1}+B_2 \] with some \(C_1, C_2, B_1, B_2\in \mathbb R,\) \(C_1C_2\neq 0\). The functional equation above expresses the \((M_f, M_g)\)-invariance of the arithmetic mean.