Find $f(x)$ given that $xf(x)+f(-x)=x$

functional-equationsrecurrence-relations

$$xf(x)+f(-x)=x$$
$$f(x)= ?$$

I saw this question in a group and couldn't find a way out of it. I've tried various things one of which is down below but these don't seem to work out.

$$xf(x) + f(-x) = x$$
$$xf(-x)-f(x) = x$$
$$xf(x)+f(-x) = xf(-x) -f(x)$$
$$f(x)+f(-x)=x\left(f(-x)-f(x)\right)$$

I actually did proceed from here but it really was not useful at all. I even tried taking derivatives etc. but none of them worked.

I searched this functional equation question on Web but didn't find anything related to this. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Best Answer

For every $x$ you have two equations: $$\begin{cases} x f(x) + f(-x) = x \\ f(x) - x f(-x) = -x \end{cases}$$ where the second equation is obtained by plugging $-x$ in the place of $x$.

This gives you a linear system with two equations and two unknowns $f(x), f(-x)$. The solution is $$f(x)= \frac{x^2-x}{x^2+1}$$ Now, you can easily check that such a solution is well defined for all $x \in \Bbb R$ and satisfies the functional equation.

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