Schroeder's equation: simple observation

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SUMMARY

Schroeder's equation is a functional equation that involves finding a bijection g and a nontrivial constant r such that g∘f = rg for a self-mapping function f on R. A significant outcome of solving this equation is the ability to compute the n-th iterate of f, expressed as f^n(x) = g^(-1)(r^n g(x)). The discussion highlights that if Schroeder's equation has a solution for a function f, then f must have one fixed point. Conversely, if f lacks a fixed point, then Schroeder's equation does not have a solution for that function.

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  • Understanding of functional equations, specifically Schroeder's equation.
  • Familiarity with concepts of bijections and fixed points in mathematics.
  • Knowledge of iterated functions and their applications.
  • Basic understanding of conjugacy in the context of self-mappings.
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  • Explore the implications of fixed points in functional equations.
  • Study the properties of bijections and their role in functional analysis.
  • Investigate other examples of functions that satisfy Schroeder's equation.
  • Learn about the applications of iterated functions in dynamical systems.
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phoenixthoth
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i was wondering if you could check this simple observation; there must be something wrong with it.

schroeder's equation is a functional equation. one version is given f, say a self-mapping of R, find bijection g (defined on R) and nontrivial constant r such that g\circ f=rg.

one utra nice result of solving this equation is that the n-th iterate of f can be calculated:
f^{n}\left( x\right) =g^{-1}\left( r^{n}g\left( x\right) \right).

for example, if one is looking to solve the difference equation
a_{n+1}=f\left( a_{n}\right)
then the solution is
a_{n}=f^{n}\left( a_{0}\right), where the nth iterate of f is given above.

clearly, if schroeder's equation is solvable, then the difference equation is too. it isn't as clear to me that if the difference equation is solvable then schroeder's equation is solvable.

turning to conjugacy, let's say for the sake of argument that two self-mappings of R, f and h, are conjugate if there is a bijection g such that
f\circ g=g\circ h.

let Fix(f) denote the set of fixed points for the function f with respect to a given domain (let's stick to R). one can note that if f and h are conjugate, then Fix(f) has the same cardinality as Fix(h).

going back to the main equation, g\circ f=rg, let's assume that there are function g and constant r that satisfies this equation. then compose both sides with g^{-1} to get
g\left( f\left( g^{-1}\left( x\right) \right) \right) =rx. this equation holds for all x in R.

this means that f is conjugate to the linear function h(x)=rx which has one fixed point (we rule out the case when r=1).

since Fix(f) has the same cardinality as Fix(h), they being conjugates, f also has one fixed point.

in short, if schroeder has a solution for the given f then f has one fixed point.

the contrapositive of that is that if f does not have one fixed point then schroeder does not have a solution for the given f.

example: f(x)=2^x.

i'm mainly trying to show that 2^x doesn't admit a solution on all of R. this seems too trivial to be right because only a few functions would admit solutions to schroeder's equation...

WHAT GIVES!?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
##f(x)=2x## admits any linear ##g## as solution with ##r=2##: ##(g\circ f)(x)=g(f(x))=g(2x)=2g(x)##.
 

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