English

(k+1)-sums versus k-sums

Number Theory 2012-06-11 v2 Combinatorics

Abstract

A kk-sum of a set AZA\subseteq \mathbb{Z} is an integer that may be expressed as a sum of kk distinct elements of AA. How large can the ratio of the number of (k+1)(k+1)-sums to the number of kk-sums be? Writing kAk\wedge A for the set of kk-sums of AA we prove that (k+1)AkAAkk+1 \frac{|(k+1)\wedge A|}{|k\wedge A|}\, \le \, \frac{|A|-k}{k+1} whenever A(k2+7k)/2|A|\ge (k^{2}+7k)/2. The inequality is tight -- the above ratio being attained when AA is a geometric progression. This answers a question of Ruzsa.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1011.4495,
  title  = {(k+1)-sums versus k-sums},
  author = {Simon Griffiths},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1011.4495},
  year   = {2012}
}

Comments

5 pages

R2 v1 2026-06-21T16:46:20.904Z