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Here is one I liked:

Putnam 1963 A2: Let $f:\ \mathbb{N}\rightarrow\mathbb{N}$ be a strictly increasing multiplicative function. (that is it satisfies $f(mn)=f(m)f(n)$ for any relatively prime integers $m,n$.) If $f(2)=2$, prove that $f(n)=n$ for $n\in \mathbb{N}$.

The problem is fairly standard, and follows by induction. However, it was motivated by the following generalization due to Erdos:

If $f:\mathbb{N}\rightarrow \mathbb{R}$ is multiplicative and monotonically increasing, then $f(n)=n^\alpha$ for some $\alpha$.

A very

Two nice , short proof is given hereproofs of this generalization can be found in the American Mathematical Monthly. See this article by Everett Howe or this article by Joel Cohen.

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Here is one I liked:

Putnam 1963 A2: Let $f:\ \mathbb{N}\rightarrow\mathbb{N}$ be a strictly increasing multiplicative function. (that is it satisfies $f(mn)=f(m)f(n)$ for any relatively prime integers $m,n$.) If $f(2)=2$, prove that $f(n)=n$ for $n\in \mathbb{N}$.

The problem is fairly standard, and follows by induction. However, it was motivated by the following generalization due to Erdos:

If $f:\mathbb{N}\rightarrow \mathbb{R}$ is multiplicative and monotonically increasing, then $f(n)=n^\alpha$ for some $\alpha$.

A very nice, short proof is given here by Joel Cohen.