Suppose S &#x2282;<!-- ⊂ --> <mi mathvariant="double-struck">Z (set of integers) such th

Jude Hunt

Jude Hunt

Answered question

2022-05-29

Suppose S Z (set of integers) such that
1) | S | = 15
2)   s S ,   a , b S such that s = a + b
Show that for every such S, there is a non-empty subset T of S such that the sum of elements of T is zero and | T | 7.

Answer & Explanation

Boatein

Boatein

Beginner2022-05-30Added 10 answers

A weaker statement, where we allow elements in T to be repeated, can be proved as below:
Since we can look at the set { s | s S } we may assume there are at most 7 positive numbers in S. Let each positive number be a vertex, from each vertex s we draw an arrow to any vertex a such that s = a + b. Since if s > 0, one of a , b must be positive, there is at least one arrow from any vertex. So there must be a cycle s 1 , , s n = s 1 with n 8. We can let T consists of s i s i + 1 , 1 i n 1.

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