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Number theory Difficulty 6.9 National Olympiad Prove it Mongolia

Let pp be a given prime number. We call a set AA of positive integers a p-set if the cardinality of ApA_p, the set of residues of elements of AA modulo pp, is p1p-1. Determine the smallest value of nn such that, for any p-set AA of nn elements, there exists a p-element subset of AA with sum divisible by pp.
(Bayarmagnai G.)

Solution

Answer: The smallest value is p+2p+2 for pp odd and 22 for p=2p=2.

The p=2p=2 case is easy so we assume pp is odd.
Take AA to be the set {1,2,,p1,p+1,2p1}\{1, 2, \dots, p-1, p+1, 2p-1\}. Then AA is a pp-set and the sum of all elements of AA is divisible by pp. Hence the sum of any pp elements in AA is not divisible by pp. Thus np+2n \ge p+2.

Now let AA be a pp-set with at least p+2p+2 elements. We may assume A={a1,,ap1,a,b,c}A = \{a_1, \dots, a_{p-1}, a, b, c\}, where aiaj(modp)a_i \ne a_j \pmod p for 1ijp11 \le i \ne j \le p-1. Let S:=i=1p1aiS := \sum_{i=1}^{p-1} a_i and let T:=a+b+c+ST := a+b+c+S.

If T=a+ai(modp)T = a + a_i \pmod p for some ii, then the remaining pp elements have sum divisible by pp and we are done. Thus we may assume that Ta+ai(modp)T \ne a + a_i \pmod p for all ii. Then we have
T+i=1p1(a+ai)1+2++p0(modp). T + \sum_{i=1}^{p-1} (a + a_i) \equiv 1 + 2 + \dots + p \equiv 0 \pmod{p}.
It follows that aS+T(modp)a \equiv S+T \pmod p. Similarly, we may assume bcS+T(modp)b \equiv c \equiv S+T \pmod p. Then
2(a+i=1p1ai)2a+2Sa+b+c+ST0(modp). 2 \left( a + \sum_{i=1}^{p-1} a_i \right) \equiv 2a + 2S \equiv a + b + c + S - T \equiv 0 \pmod{p}.

This gives a subset with pp elements with sum divisible by pp.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.