Let be a finite field with at least four elements. Prove that the set can be partitioned into two nonempty subsets and , such that
Solution
Since the product of the elements of is , if and form a partition of , then , so if and only if
Let . If the characteristic of is , then the singleton set clearly satisfies . If the characteristic of is odd, choose an element in , and notice that the 3-element set satisfies .
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