Forms of Nice Functions

Abstract

You can invent striking and challenging problems with unique solution by building some symmetry into functional equations. Some are suitable for high school; others could generate college-level projects involving computer algebra. The problems are functional equations with group actions in the background. Interesting examples arise even from small finite groups. Whether a given problem ``works" with a given choice of constant coefficients depends on whether a related multilinear form is nonzero. These forms are essentially the classical group determinants studied by Frobenius in the nineteenth century.