https://oliverhudson.com/problems/ Recent content in Problems on Oliver Hudson Hugo en-US © Oliver Hudson Wed, 21 Oct 2026 16:25:44 +0000 https://oliverhudson.com/problems/hmmt-2002-calculus-10/ Wed, 21 Oct 2026 16:25:44 +0000 https://oliverhudson.com/problems/hmmt-2002-calculus-10/ <p><strong>Problem</strong> (Harvard–MIT Mathematics Tournament, March 2002, Calculus #10). A continuous real function <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/katex@0.16.22/dist/katex.min.css" crossorigin="anonymous"><span class="katex"><span class="katex-mathml"><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><semantics><mrow><mi>f</mi></mrow><annotation encoding="application/x-tex">f</annotation></semantics></math></span><span class="katex-html" aria-hidden="true"><span class="base"><span class="strut" style="height:0.8889em;vertical-align:-0.1944em;"></span><span class="mord mathnormal" style="margin-right:0.10764em;">f</span></span></span></span> satisfies the identity <span class="katex"><span class="katex-mathml"><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><semantics><mrow><mi>f</mi><mo stretchy="false">(</mo><mn>2</mn><mi>x</mi><mo stretchy="false">)</mo><mo>=</mo><mn>3</mn><mi>f</mi><mo stretchy="false">(</mo><mi>x</mi><mo stretchy="false">)</mo></mrow><annotation encoding="application/x-tex">f(2x) = 3f(x)</annotation></semantics></math></span><span class="katex-html" aria-hidden="true"><span class="base"><span class="strut" style="height:1em;vertical-align:-0.25em;"></span><span class="mord mathnormal" style="margin-right:0.10764em;">f</span><span class="mopen">(</span><span class="mord">2</span><span class="mord mathnormal">x</span><span class="mclose">)</span><span class="mspace" style="margin-right:0.2778em;"></span><span class="mrel">=</span><span class="mspace" style="margin-right:0.2778em;"></span></span><span class="base"><span class="strut" style="height:1em;vertical-align:-0.25em;"></span><span class="mord">3</span><span class="mord mathnormal" style="margin-right:0.10764em;">f</span><span class="mopen">(</span><span class="mord mathnormal">x</span><span class="mclose">)</span></span></span></span> for all <span class="katex"><span class="katex-mathml"><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><semantics><mrow><mi>x</mi></mrow><annotation encoding="application/x-tex">x</annotation></semantics></math></span><span class="katex-html" aria-hidden="true"><span class="base"><span class="strut" style="height:0.4306em;"></span><span class="mord mathnormal">x</span></span></span></span>. If <span class="katex"><span class="katex-mathml"><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><semantics><mrow><msubsup><mo>∫</mo><mn>0</mn><mn>1</mn></msubsup><mi>f</mi><mo stretchy="false">(</mo><mi>x</mi><mo stretchy="false">)</mo><mtext> </mtext><mi>d</mi><mi>x</mi><mo>=</mo><mn>1</mn></mrow><annotation encoding="application/x-tex">\int_0^1 f(x)\,dx = 1</annotation></semantics></math></span><span class="katex-html" aria-hidden="true"><span class="base"><span class="strut" style="height:1.3648em;vertical-align:-0.3558em;"></span><span class="mop"><span class="mop op-symbol small-op" style="margin-right:0.19445em;position:relative;top:-0.0006em;">∫</span><span class="msupsub"><span class="vlist-t vlist-t2"><span class="vlist-r"><span class="vlist" style="height:1.009em;"><span style="top:-2.3442em;margin-left:-0.1945em;margin-right:0.05em;"><span class="pstrut" style="height:2.7em;"></span><span class="sizing reset-size6 size3 mtight"><span class="mord mtight">0</span></span></span><span style="top:-3.2579em;margin-right:0.05em;"><span class="pstrut" style="height:2.7em;"></span><span class="sizing reset-size6 size3 mtight"><span class="mord mtight">1</span></span></span></span><span class="vlist-s">​</span></span><span class="vlist-r"><span class="vlist" style="height:0.3558em;"><span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="mspace" style="margin-right:0.1667em;"></span><span class="mord mathnormal" style="margin-right:0.10764em;">f</span><span class="mopen">(</span><span class="mord mathnormal">x</span><span class="mclose">)</span><span class="mspace" style="margin-right:0.1667em;"></span><span class="mord mathnormal">d</span><span class="mord mathnormal">x</span><span class="mspace" style="margin-right:0.2778em;"></span><span class="mrel">=</span><span class="mspace" style="margin-right:0.2778em;"></span></span><span class="base"><span class="strut" style="height:0.6444em;"></span><span class="mord">1</span></span></span></span>, what is <span class="katex"><span class="katex-mathml"><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><semantics><mrow><msubsup><mo>∫</mo><mn>1</mn><mn>2</mn></msubsup><mi>f</mi><mo stretchy="false">(</mo><mi>x</mi><mo stretchy="false">)</mo><mtext> </mtext><mi>d</mi><mi>x</mi></mrow><annotation encoding="application/x-tex">\int_1^2 f(x)\,dx</annotation></semantics></math></span><span class="katex-html" aria-hidden="true"><span class="base"><span class="strut" style="height:1.3648em;vertical-align:-0.3558em;"></span><span class="mop"><span class="mop op-symbol small-op" style="margin-right:0.19445em;position:relative;top:-0.0006em;">∫</span><span class="msupsub"><span class="vlist-t vlist-t2"><span class="vlist-r"><span class="vlist" style="height:1.009em;"><span style="top:-2.3442em;margin-left:-0.1945em;margin-right:0.05em;"><span class="pstrut" style="height:2.7em;"></span><span class="sizing reset-size6 size3 mtight"><span class="mord mtight">1</span></span></span><span style="top:-3.2579em;margin-right:0.05em;"><span class="pstrut" style="height:2.7em;"></span><span class="sizing reset-size6 size3 mtight"><span class="mord mtight">2</span></span></span></span><span class="vlist-s">​</span></span><span class="vlist-r"><span class="vlist" style="height:0.3558em;"><span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="mspace" style="margin-right:0.1667em;"></span><span class="mord mathnormal" style="margin-right:0.10764em;">f</span><span class="mopen">(</span><span class="mord mathnormal">x</span><span class="mclose">)</span><span class="mspace" style="margin-right:0.1667em;"></span><span class="mord mathnormal">d</span><span class="mord mathnormal">x</span></span></span></span>?</p> <p><strong>Solution.</strong> Substitute <span class="katex"><span class="katex-mathml"><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><semantics><mrow><mi>x</mi><mo>=</mo><mn>2</mn><mi>u</mi></mrow><annotation encoding="application/x-tex">x = 2u</annotation></semantics></math></span><span class="katex-html" aria-hidden="true"><span class="base"><span class="strut" style="height:0.4306em;"></span><span class="mord mathnormal">x</span><span class="mspace" style="margin-right:0.2778em;"></span><span class="mrel">=</span><span class="mspace" style="margin-right:0.2778em;"></span></span><span class="base"><span class="strut" style="height:0.6444em;"></span><span class="mord">2</span><span class="mord mathnormal">u</span></span></span></span>, so <span class="katex"><span class="katex-mathml"><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><semantics><mrow><mi>d</mi><mi>x</mi><mo>=</mo><mn>2</mn><mtext> </mtext><mi>d</mi><mi>u</mi></mrow><annotation encoding="application/x-tex">dx = 2\,du</annotation></semantics></math></span><span class="katex-html" aria-hidden="true"><span class="base"><span class="strut" style="height:0.6944em;"></span><span class="mord mathnormal">d</span><span class="mord mathnormal">x</span><span class="mspace" style="margin-right:0.2778em;"></span><span class="mrel">=</span><span class="mspace" style="margin-right:0.2778em;"></span></span><span class="base"><span class="strut" style="height:0.6944em;"></span><span class="mord">2</span><span class="mspace" style="margin-right:0.1667em;"></span><span class="mord mathnormal">d</span><span class="mord mathnormal">u</span></span></span></span>:</p>