Problem:
Let be arbitrary positive integers. Prove that there exist distinct positive integers , , such that the following two conditions are satisfied:
(1) all subsets of have distinct sums of elements;
(2) every number is the sum of the elements of some subset of .
Solution
Solution:
We shall prove the assertion by induction on . For we have , and is the required number.
Let us assume that the assertion is true for every collection with sum less than and let be such that .
If all numbers are even then the numbers have sum and by the induction hypothesis there exists a collection which satisfies the condition. Then the required numbers for are .
Suppose now that at least one of the numbers is odd. Without loss of generality we can assume that is the smallest odd number in the collection. Let us consider the numbers defined by
The sum of the new numbers is less than and the induction hypothesis implies the existence of numbers which satisfy the conditions. We shall prove that the numbers are the required numbers for the collection .
If two nonintersecting subsets of have equal sums then (as the only odd number) does not belong to these sets. Dividing by we obtain two nonintersecting subsets of with equal sums which is a contradiction. Also, it is easy to see that every , can be represented as a sum of some of the numbers which completes the induction step.