A circle divided into arcs, we intend to write on these arcs such that each number is used exactly two times and for from one direction there are exactly arcs between two arcs such that is written on them. Prove that this is impossible for .
Solution
We number the arcs with , clockwise and assume that the arcs with numbers and have written on them. By the problem's assumption
Then by adding up these equalities modulo we have
The number does not satisfy the last equation and this concludes the proof. ■
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