Prove or disprove ? f(AB)=f(A)f(B)

1 Answer
Jun 12, 2017

This identity is generally false...

Explanation:

In general this will be false.

A simple example would be:

f(x)=2

Then:

f(11)=21=22=f(1)f(1)


Bonus

For what kind of functions f(x) does the identity hold?

Note that:

f(1)=f(11)=f(1)f(1)=1

f(0)=f(0x)=f(0)f(x) for any x

So either f(0)=0 or f(x)=1 for all x

If n is any integer and:

f(x)=xn

Then:

f(ab)=(ab)n=anbn=f(a)f(b)

There are other possibilities for f(x):

f(x)=|x|c for any real constant c

f(x)=sgn(x)|x|c for any real constant c