11th Putnam 1951 Problem B2 R is the reals. Find an example of functions f, g : R → R, which are differentiable, not identically zero, and satisfy (f/g)' = f '/g' .
Suppose we take f = gh. Then we require h' = h + g/g' h'. If we take g/g' = 2, then h' = -h. So this suggests f(x) = e -x/2 , g(x) = e x/2 . Checking, we see that that works. 11th Putnam 1951 © John Scholes jscholes@kalva.demon.co.uk 5 Mar 2002