I am investigating functions satisfying the exponentiation identity f(a+b)=f(a)f(b) for all a,b∈R. This is satisfied by f(x)=exp(Ax) but what other functions are possible, if any? What properties must such functions have?
This is what I have figured out so far - I am interested in any other properties that are required.
f(0)∈{0,1}
Proof: f(0)=f(0+0)=f(0)f(0)⟹ either f(0)=0 or dividing by f(0) gives f(0)=1f(x) is strictly positive everywhere or zero everywhere
Proof: If f(0)=0, then f(x)=f(x+0)=f(x)f(0)=f(x)⋅0=0 for all xIf f(0)=1 then first we show that f(x) is non zero for all x:
1=f(0)=f(x−x)=f(x)f(−x)which implies that both f(x) and f(−x) can not be zero and this is true for all x.
f(x)=f(x/2+x/2)=f(x/2)2but we already know that f(x/2) is non zero, hence its square is strictly positive.
Corollary: f(−x)=1/f(x) if f(x) is non-zero.
For the rest of this question lets assume the non-trivial case where f(x) is strictly positive.
- f(p/q)=f(1)p/q for all p/q∈Q
Proof: We have f(1/q)q=f(1/q)⋯f(1/q)⏟q times =f(q/q)=f(1)so taking the qth root, f(1/q)=f(1)1/q.
f(px)=f(x)⋯f(x)⏟p times =f(x)p
Combining these we get the result.
Setting A=log(f(1)) we see that f(x)=exp(Atx) where x=p/q∈Q. But what about x∈R−Q (irrational values of x)?
- If f is required to be continuous, then by the density of Q in R, f(x)=exp(Atx) everywhere. But if f is not required to be continuous then I think I can define
f(x)=exp(Atx) where x in Q where t in some coset R/Q and tQ=t+q where q∈Q and At is different for each coset. This makes for quite an interesting function. (FYI The cosets of R/Q are discussed in this question What do the cosets of R/Q look like?)
I am pretty sure in this case that f(x) is not Lesbesque integrable. I am not sure what else we can tell about f(x)...
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