J. Math. Anal. Appl.

274 (2002) 659666

www.academicpress.com

On the stability of the functional equation

f (x + y + xy) = f (x) + f (y) + xf (y) + yf (x)
Yong-Soo Jung a, and Kyoo-Hong Park b
a Department of Mathematics, Chungnam National University, Taejon 305-764, South Korea
b Department of Mathematics Education, Seowon University, Chongju, Chungbuk 361-742,

South Korea
Received 30 April 2001
Submitted by T.M. Rassias

Abstract
In this paper we study the HyersUlam stability and the superstability of the functional
equation f (x + y + xy) = f (x) + f (y) + xf (y) + yf (x).
2002 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.
Keywords: Functional equation; Stability

1. Introduction
The problem of stability of functional equations was originally raised by
S.M. Ulam [23] in 1940:
Given a group G1 , a metric group G2 with metric d(, ), and a > 0,
does there exist a > 0 such that if a mapping f : G1 G2 satisfies
d(f (xy), f (x)f (y))
for all x, y G1 , then a homomorphism g : G1
G2 exists with d(f (x), g(x))
for all x G1 ?
* Corresponding author.

E-mail addresses: ysjung@math.cnu.ac.kr (Y.S. Jung), parkkh@seowon.ac.kr (K.H. Park).

0022-247X/02/$ see front matter 2002 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 0 2 2 - 2 4 7 X ( 0 2 ) 0 0 3 2 8 - 1

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Y.S. Jung, K.H Park / J. Math. Anal. Appl. 274 (2002) 659666

For Banach spaces the Ulam problem was first solved by D.H. Hyers [3] in
1941, which states that if > 0 and f : X Y is a mapping with X, Y Banach
spaces, such that





f (x + y) f (x) f (y)


(1)
for all x, y X, then there exists a unique additive mapping T : X Y such that





f (x) T (x)


for all x, y X.
In such a case, the additive functional equation f (x + y) = f (x) + f (y) is said
to have the HyersUlam stability property on (X, Y ). This terminology is applied
to all kinds of functional equations which have been studied by many authors (see,
for example, [46,1419]).
In 1978, Th.M. Rassias [13] succeeded in generalizing the Hyers result by
weakening the condition for the bound of the left side of the inequality (1). Due
to this fact, the additive functional equation f (x + y) = f (x) + f (y) is said to
have the HyersUlamRassias stability property on (X, Y ). A number of Rassias
type results concerning the stability of different functional equations can be found
in [2,4,710,17].
If each solution f : X Y of the inequality (1) is a solution of the additive
functional equation f (x + y) = f (x) + f (y), then we say that the additive
functional equation has the superstability property on (X, Y ). This property is
also applied to the case of other functional equations (Refs. [1,9,16]).
We now consider a functional equation which defines multiplicative derivations in algebras:
f (xy) = xf (y) + yf (x).

(2)

It is immediate to observe that the real-valued function f (x) = x ln x is a solution

of the functional equation (2) on the interval (0, ).
During the 34th International Symposium on Functional Equations, Gy. Maksa
[11] posed the problem concerning the HyersUlam stability on the interval (0, 1]
of the functional equation (2), and J. Tabor gave an answer to the question of
Maksa in [22]. On the other hand, Zs. Ples [12] remarked that the functional
equation (2) on the interval [1, ) for real-valued functions is superstable.
Here we introduce the following functional equation motivated by the
functional equation (2):
f (x + y + xy) = f (x) + f (y) + xf (y) + yf (x).

(3)

In this paper, we will solve the functional equation (3) and then, by following
the ideas of J. Tabor [22] and Zs. Ples [12], the HyersUlam stability on the
interval (1, 0] and the superstability on the interval [0, ) of the functional
equation (3) will be investigated, respectively.

Y.S. Jung, K.H Park / J. Math. Anal. Appl. 274 (2002) 659666

661

Throughout this paper, we will denote by R and N the sets of real numbers and
of positive integers, respectively.

2. Solutions of Eq. (3)

It is easy to see that the real-valued function f (x) = (x + 1) ln(x + 1) is a
solution of the functional equation (3) on the interval (1, ). In the following
theorem, we will find out the general solution of the functional equation (3) on
the interval (1, ).
Theorem 2.1. Let X be a real (or complex) linear space. A function
f : (1, ) X
satisfies the functional equation (3) for all x (1, ) if and only if there exists
a solution D : (0, ) X of the functional equation (2) such that
f (x) = D(x + 1)
for all x (1, ).
Proof. Necessity. Let us define the mapping D : (0, ) X by D(x) :=
f (x 1). We claim that D is a solution of the functional equation (2).
Indeed, for all x, y (0, ), we have


D(xy) = f (xy 1) = f (x 1) + (y 1) + (x 1)(y 1)
= f (x 1) + f (y 1) + (x 1)f (y 1) + (y 1)f (x 1)
= xD(y) + yD(x).
Therefore D is a solution of the functional equation (2), as claimed, and f (x) =
D(x + 1) for all x (1, ).
Sufficiency. This is obvious.

3. HyersUlam stability of Eq. (3)

We first state a theorem of F. Skof [20] concerning the stability of the additive
functional equation f (x + y) = f (x) + f (y) on a restricted domain:
Theorem 3.1. Let X be a real (or complex) Banach space. Given c > 0, let a
mapping f : [0, c) X satisfy the inequality





f (x + y) f (x) f (y)

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Y.S. Jung, K.H Park / J. Math. Anal. Appl. 274 (2002) 659666

for some  0 and for all x, y [0, c) with x + y [0, c). Then there exists an
additive mapping A : R X such that





f (x) A(x)

3
for all x [0, c).
Our main theorem in this section is the HyersUlam stability on the interval
(1, 0] of the functional equation (3) and the proof is similar to the one given in
[22].
Theorem 3.2. Let X be a real (or complex) Banach space, and let f : (1, 0]
X be a mapping satisfying the inequality





f (x + y + xy) f (x) f (y) xf (y) yf (x)


(4)
for some > 0 and for all x, y (1, 0]. Then there exists a solution
H : (1, 0] X of the functional equation (3) such that





f (x) H (x)

(4e)
(5)
for all x (1, 0].
Proof. Let g : (1, 0] X be a mapping defined by
f (x)
x +1
for all x (1, 0]. Then, by (4), we see that g satisfy the inequality
g(x) =

g(x + y + xy) g(y) g(x)

(x + 1)(y + 1)

for all x, y (1, 0]. If we define the mapping F : [0, ) X by



F ln(x + 1) = g(x)
for all x (1, 0], then, by setting u = ln(x + 1) and v = ln(y + 1), we
obtain





F (u + v) F (u) F (v)

eu+v
(6)
for all u, v [0, ). This means that





F (u + v) F (u) F (v)

ec
for all u, v [0, c) with u + v < c, where c > 1 is an arbitrary given constant.
According to Theorem 3.1, there exists an additive mapping A : R X such
that F (u) A(u)
3ec for all u [0, c). If we let c 1 in the last inequality,
we then get

Y.S. Jung, K.H Park / J. Math. Anal. Appl. 274 (2002) 659666

F (u) A(u)

3e

663

(7)

for all u [0, 1]. Moreover, it follows from (6) that

F (u + 1) F (u) F (1)

eu+1 ,





F (u + 2) F (u + 1) F (1)

eu+2 ,
..
.

F (u + k) F (u + k 1) F (1)

eu+k
for all u [0, 1] and k N. Summing up these inequalities we obtain







F (u + k) F (u) kF (1)

e eu+k 1 + e1 + + ek+1

e eu+k
for all u [0, 1] and k N. We assert that





F (v) A(v)

4e ev

(8)

(9)

for all v [0, ).

In fact, let v  0 and let k N {0} be given with v k [0, 1]. Then, by (7)
and (8), we have








F (v) A(v)


F (v) F (v k) kF (1)








+
F (v k) A(v k)
+
A(k) kF (1)






e ev + 3e +
A(k) kF (1)






e ev + 3e + k
A(1) F (1)


e ev + 3e + 3ev



e ev + 3(1 + v)

4e ev .
Hence, from (9) and the definition of F , it follows that






g(x) A ln(x + 1)

4e e ln(x+1) = 4e
x +1
for all x (1, 0], i.e.,





f (x)



4e





x + 1 A ln(x + 1)

x + 1

(10)

for all x (1, 0]. If we put H (x) = (x + 1)A( ln(x + 1)) for all x (1, 0],
we can easily check that H is a solution of the functional equation (3) by
Theorem 2.1. This and (10) yield that





f (x) H (x)

(4e)
for all x (1, 0] which proves (5). The proof of the theorem is complete.

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Y.S. Jung, K.H Park / J. Math. Anal. Appl. 274 (2002) 659666

4. Superstability of Eq. (3)

For the purpose, we will introduce the next result [21] which is essential to
prove the main theorem:
Theorem 4.1. Let X be a real (or complex) Banach space, and let c > 0 be a
given constant. Suppose that a mapping f : R X satisfies the inequality





f (x + y) f (x) f (y)


for some  0 and for all x, y R with |x| + |y| > c. Then there exists a unique
additive mapping A : R X such that





f (x) A(x)

9
for all x R.
Now let us prove the main theorem of the section which is the superstability of
the functional equation (3) on the interval [0, ).
Theorem 4.2. Let X be a real (or complex) Banach space, and let f : [0, ) X
be a mapping satisfying the inequality





f (x + y + xy) f (x) f (y) xf (y) yf (x)


(11)
for some > 0 and for all x, y [0, ). Then f satisfies the functional equation
(3) for all x, y [0, ).
Proof. Defining the mapping g : [0, ) X by
f (x)
x +1
for all x [0, ) as in the proof of Theorem 3.2, and defining the mapping
F : [0, ) X by


F ln(x + 1) = g(x)
g(x) =

for all x [0, ), we see, by putting u = ln(x + 1) and v = ln(y + 1), that





F (u + v) F (u) F (v)

e(u+v)
(12)
for all u, v [0, ). We claim that F is additive.
From (12) with n = en (n N), we obtain





F (u + v) F (u) F (v)

n
for all u, v [0, ) with u + v > n.
We now define a mapping T : R X by

Y.S. Jung, K.H Park / J. Math. Anal. Appl. 274 (2002) 659666


T (u) =

F (u)
F (u)

665

for u  0,
for u < 0.

It is not difficult to see that

T (u + v) T (u) T (v)

n
for all u, v R with |u| + |v| > n. Therefore, by Theorem 4.1, there exists a
unique additive mapping An : R X satisfying





T (u) An (u)

9n
(13)
for all u R. Let m, n N with n > m. Then the additive mapping An : R X
satisfies T (u) An (u)
9m for all u R. The uniqueness argument now
implies An = Am for all n N with n > m > 0, and thus A1 = A2 = =
An = . Taking the limit in (13) as n , we obtain T = A1 and we deduce
that F is additive.
Now, according to the definitions of F and g, we have


f (x)
= F ln(x + 1)
x+1
for all x [0, ), i.e.,


f (x) = (x + 1)F ln(x + 1)
for all x [0, ), and hence we see that f satisfies the functional equation (3)
for all x, y [0, ) by Theorem 2.1 since F is additive and D(x) = xF (ln(x))
(x [1, )) is a solution of the functional equation (2). This completes the proof
of the theorem.

Acknowledgments
We thank Professor Themistocles M. Rassias and the referees for their valuable comments and
help.

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