English

On vanishing sums for roots of unity

Number Theory 2008-02-03 v1

Abstract

Consider the mm-th roots of unity in {\bf C}, where m>0m>0 is an integer. We address the following question: For what values of nn can one find nn such mm-th roots of unity (with repetitions allowed) adding up to zero? We prove that the answer is exactly the set of linear combinations with non-negative integer coefficients of the prime factors of mm.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.math/9511209,
  title  = {On vanishing sums for roots of unity},
  author = {T. Y. Lam and K. H. Leung},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:math/9511209},
  year   = {2008}
}
R2 v1 2026-07-22T17:55:52.359Z