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Determine all the functions $f:\mathbb{N} \to \mathbb{N}$ such that $(f(m)+n)(f(n)+m)$ is a perfect square $\forall m, n \in \mathbb{N}$.

I have been struggling with this problem for a while, any ideas and hints would be appreciated.

It is clear that $(f(m)+n)(f(n)+m)$ is a perfect square when $f(m)+n =f(n)+m$ but that consideration leads to a partial solution to the problem i.e. functions $f(x) = x + c$, where $c \in \mathbb{N}$.

I'm wondering if other types of $f$ could solve this problem. Are they surjective, injective? How can one prove or disprove the existence of such functions?

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    Think of your problem as solving a linear recurrence relation.2017-01-10
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    I knew I saw this problem before. Your question is problem 3 of IMO 2010. You can find a solution in the shorlist (there it's problem N5): https://www.imo-official.org/problems/IMO2010SL.pdf2017-01-11
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    Thank you, I found this problem casually over the internet; I didn't even know it was a problem of IMO. Thank you once again.2017-01-11

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