English

Upper and Lower Bounds on Zero-Sum Generalized Schur Numbers

Combinatorics 2018-08-14 v1

Abstract

Let Sz(k,r)S_{\mathfrak{z}}(k,r) be the least positive integer such that for any rr-coloring χ:{1,2,,Sz(k,r)}{1,2,,r}\chi : \{1,2,\dots,S_{\mathfrak{z}}(k,r)\} \longrightarrow \{1, 2, \dots, r\}, there is a sequence x1,x2,,xkx_1, x_2, \dots, x_k such that i=1k1xi=xk\sum_{i=1}^{k-1} x_i = x_k, and i=1kχ(xi)0(modr)\sum_{i=1}^{k} \chi(x_i) \equiv 0 \pmod{r}. We show that when kk is greater than rr, krr1Sz(k,r)kr1kr - r - 1 \le S_{\mathfrak{z}}(k,r) \le kr - 1, and when rr is an odd prime, Sz(k,r)S_{\mathfrak{z}}(k,r) is in fact equal to krrkr - r.

Cite

@article{arxiv.1808.03851,
  title  = {Upper and Lower Bounds on Zero-Sum Generalized Schur Numbers},
  author = {Erik Metz},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1808.03851},
  year   = {2018}
}

Comments

19 pages

R2 v1 2026-06-23T03:30:58.973Z