Multiplicative symmetry and related functional equations

Summary Let (G, *) be a commutative monoid. Following J. G. Dhombres, we shall say that a functionf: G G is multiplicative symmetric on (G, *) if it satisfies the functional equationf(x * f(y)) = f(y * f(x)) for allx, y inG. (1)Equivalently, iff: G G satisfies a functional equation of the following type:f(x * f(y)) = F(x, y) (x, y G), whereF: G × G G is a symmetric function (possibly depending onf), thenf is multiplicative symmetric on (G, *).In Section I, we recall the results obtained for various monoidsG by J. G. Dhombres and others concerning the functional equation (1) and some functional equations of the formf(x * f(y)) = F(x, y) (x, y G), (E) whereF: G × G G may depend onf. We complete these results, in particular in the case whereG is the field of complex numbers, and we generalize also some results by considering more general functionsF.In Section II, we consider some functional equations of the formf(x * f(y)) + f(y * f(x)) = 2F(x, y) (x, y K), where (K, +, ·) is a commutative field of characteristic zero, * is either + or · andF: K × K K is some symmetric function which has already been considered in Section I for the functional equation (E). We investigate here the following problem: which conditions guarantee that all solutionsf: K K of such equations are multiplicative symmetric either on (K, +) or on (K, ·)? Under such conditions, these equations are equivalent to some functional equations of the form (E) for which the solutions have been given in Section I. This is a partial answer to a question asked by J. G. Dhombres in 1973.