Period of $f(2x+3)+f(2x+7)=2$ I have a problem in finding the period of functions given in the form of functional equations.


  Q. If $f(x)$ is periodic with period $t$ such that $f(2x+3)+f(2x+7)=2$. Find $t$. ($x\in \mathbb R$)


What I did:

$$f(2x+3)+f(2x+7)=2.........(1)$$

Replacing $x$ with $x-1$ in $(1)$, 

$$f(2x+1)+f(2x+5)=2.........(2)$$

And replacing $x$ with $x+1$ in $(1)$,

$$f(2x+5)+f(2x+9)=2.........(3)$$

Subtracting $(2)$ from $(3)$, I get $$f(2x+1)=f(2x+9)$$

Since $x \in \mathbb R \iff 2x \in \mathbb R$, replace $2x$ with $x$ to get$$f(x)=f(x+8)\implies t=8$$

But sadly, my textbook's answer is $t=4$.

Is my method correct? How can I be sure that the $t$ so found is the least?
I found this tricky and I may have got it wrong, but I think that you are correct and the book is not.

If $f(2x+3)+f(2x+7)=2$ for all real $x$, then we can take $x=(y-3)/2$ to give
$$f(y)+f(y+4)=2\tag{$*$}$$
and then, essentially following your argument,
$$f(y)=f(y+8)$$
for all real $y$.  Now suppose that $f$ has period $t$: recall that this means $t&gt;0$ and $f(y)=f(y+t)$ for all real $y$, and that no smaller positive $t$ has the same property.  Suppose that there is an integer $k$ such that
$$kt&lt;8&lt;(k+1)t\ ;$$
this can be rewritten as
$$8=kt+t'\quad\hbox{with}\quad 0&lt;t'&lt;t\ .$$
Then we have
$$f(y)=f(y+8)=f(y+t'+kt)=f(y+t')\quad\hbox{for all $y$},$$
which contradicts the fact that $f$ has period $t$.  Therefore we must have $8=kt$ for some positive integer $k$, that is, $t=8/k$.

Now $k$ cannot be even, for if $k=2m$ then for all $y$ we have $f(y)=f(y+mt)=f(y+4)$; in conjunction with $(*)$ this shows that $f(y)=1$ for all $y$, which is not (strictly speaking) periodic.

However it is possible that the period could be $t=8/k$ with $k$ odd.  For example, take
$$f(y)=1+\sin\Bigl(\frac{2\pi y}{t}\Bigr)\ .$$
Then, as is well known, $f$ has period $t$; also
$$f(y)+f(y+4)
  =1+\sin\Bigl(\frac{2\pi y}{t}\Bigr)+1+\sin\Bigl(\frac{2\pi y}{t}+k\pi\Bigr)=2$$
for all $y$, as required.
The period is $4$. Actually $f(x)$ and $f(2x)$ are different functions. You see, $\cos(2x)$ and $\cos(x)$ are different. The period of $\cos(x)$ is $2\pi$ but the period of $\cos(2x)$ is $\pi$. Similarly, the period of $f(x)$ is the the period of $f(2x)/2$.