Additive uniqueness of $\mathtt{PRIMES}-1$ for multiplicative functions

Abstract

Let $\mathtt{PRIMES}$ be the set of all primes. We show that a multiplicative function which satisfies \[ f(p+q-2) = f(p) + f(q) - f(2) \text{ for }p,q \in \mathtt{PRIMES} \] is one of the following: \begin{enumerate} \item $f$ is the identity function \item $f$ is the constant function with $f(n)=1$ \item $f(n)=0$ for $n \ge2$ unless $n$ is odd and squareful. \end{enumerate} As a consequence, a multiplicative function which satisfies \[ f(a+b) = f(a) + f(b) \text{ for }a,b \in \mathtt{PRIMES}-1 \] is the identity function.