First Solution. Defining bi=ai+1−ai, i=1,…,n−1. Thus, (bi) is a decreasing sequence of positive real numbers. Then, the difference of any two elements of A can be written as the sum of some of the bi's. Assume
bi1+bi2+⋯+bij=bi2+⋯+bij=⋯=bim+⋯+bin=1
Such that i1<i2<⋯<im. If t>k then jt−it>jk−ik. Since these numbers are positive, we find that i1,…,im are distinct. Therefore,
jm=jm−im+im≥m−1+m
Yielding, n≥2m. Now, we construct two different examples;
1st Example. Let bm=m(3m−1)2m−1, bm+1=m(3m+1)2m−2, …, b2m−1=m(3m−1)2. Then, we go inductively through i=m−1 and construct b1,…,bm−1 as bi=b2i+b2i+1, notice that since for all i<n−1 the inequalities bi>bi+1 and b2i+b2i+1>b2i+2+b2i+3 are equivalent, we find that b1,… form a decreasing sequence. On the other hand,
bi+⋯+b2i−1=bi+1+⋯+b2(i+1)−1
It is easy to verify that such an example works.
Second Solution We can prove something more general; for every positive integer m there is a nice set A of size 2m and a nonzero real number d that can be written as a difference of two elements of A in at least m different ways. Let Sd={(a,b)∈A×A;a−b=d}, we prove that ∣Sd∣≥m. Indeed, Let A={a1<⋯<a2m}, which is made of two halves. The set A begins with 0, and then has gaps 1+(i−1)δ, for some very small δ>0 which will be specified later. The first half of A is filled like this. That is, for 1≤k≤m+1, we define ak=(k−1)+δ2(k−2)(k−1), and so the first m+1 elements of A are elements of the set A1={0,1,2+δ,3+3δ,⋯,m+δ2m(m−1)}. Fix d=m+δ2m(m−1)=am+1. The rest of A is defined iteratively. For 1≤i≤m−1, we get am+1+i=a1+2i+d. This immediately gives rise to the system of equations d=am+1−a1=am+2−a3=⋯=a2m−a2m−1. We therefore ∣Sd(A)∣≥m. It remains to check that this set is nice. Note that A1={a1,⋯,am+1} is nice, since the consecutive difference increase by δ at each step.
We will prove by induction on i that the set {a1,⋯,am+2+i} is nice for 0≤i≤m−2. We first check the base for i=0. We need to verify that the difference am+2−am+1 is sufficiently large, which will give a condition on δ. We must have am+2−am+1>am+1−am. We need to have δ<m−21. Now, let 1≤i≤m−2. We must verify that {a1,⋯,am+2+i} is nice, given the induction hypothesis that {a1,a2,⋯,am+1+i} is nice. All that remains to check that am+2+i−am+1+i>am+1+i−am+i. Note That am+2+i−am+1+i=a1+2(i+1)−a1+2i and am+1+i−am+i=a1+2i−a1+2(i−1). Note that, since the difference on the right hand side above are then consecutive differences of length two within a nice set, we have
am+2+i−am+1+i=a1+2(i+1)−a1+2i>a1+2i−a1+2(i−1)=am+1+i−am+i
as needed. Here we have used the inductive hypothesis that {a1,⋯,am+1+i} is nice as well as the fact that 1+2(i+1)≤m+1+i. The latter inequality follows from the condition i≤m−2.