Related papers: Sum-free Sets of Integers with a Forbidden Sum
It is a classical fact that every $n$-element set of positive reals has at least $\binom{n+1}{2}+1$ distinct subset sums, with equality exactly for homogeneous arithmetic progressions (when $n\geq 4$). We establish stability versions of…
For an interval [1,N] in the natural numbers, investigating subsets S of [1,N] such that |{(x,y) in S^2:x+y in S}|=0, known as sum-free sets, has attracted considerable attention. In this paper, we define r(S):=|{(x,y) in S^2: x+y in S}|…
It is known that for an arbitrary positive integer \(n\) the sequence \(S(x^n)=(1^n, 2^n, \ldots)\) is complete, meaning that every sufficiently large integer is a sum of distinct \(n\)th powers of positive integers. We prove that every…
Let $A$ be a finite, nonempty subset of an abelian group. We show that if every element of $A$ is a sum of two other elements, then $A$ has a nonempty zero-sum subset. That is, a (finite, nonempty) sum-full subset of an abelian group is not…
In this paper we rectify two previous results found in the literature. Our work leads to a new upper bound for the largest sum-free subset of $[1,n]$ with lowest value in $\left [\frac{n}{3},\frac{n}{2}\right ]$, and the identification of…
Given a linear equation $\mathcal{L}$, a set $A$ of integers is $\mathcal{L}$-free if $A$ does not contain any `non-trivial' solutions to $\mathcal{L}$. This notion incorporates many central topics in combinatorial number theory such as…
Let $C_n$ be a cyclic group of order $n$. A sequence $S$ of length $\ell$ over $C_n$ is a sequence $S = a_1\boldsymbol\cdot a_2\boldsymbol\cdot \ldots\boldsymbol\cdot a_{\ell}$ of $\ell$ elements in $C_n$, where a repetition of elements is…
Let $3\le d\le k$ and $\nu\ge 0$ be fixed and $\mathcal{F}\subset\binom{[n]}{k}$. The matching number of $\mathcal{F}$, denoted by $\nu(\mathcal{F})$, is the maximum number of pairwise disjoint sets in $\mathcal{F}$, and $\mathcal{F}$ is…
For a set $A \subset \mathbb{N}$ we characterize in terms of its density when there exists an infinite set $B \subset \mathbb{N}$ and $t \in \{0,1\}$ such that $B+B \subset A-t$, where $B+B : =\{b_1+b_2\colon b_1,b_2 \in B\}$. Specifically,…
Let $A$ be a subset of a finite field $\mathbb{F}$. When $\mathbb{F}$ has prime order, we show that there is an absolute constant $c > 0$ such that, if $A$ is both sum-free and equal to the set of its multiplicative inverses, then $|A| <…
A $k$-configuration is a collection of $k$ distinct integers $x_1,\ldots,x_k$ together with their pairwise arithmetic means $\frac{x_i+x_j}{2}$ for $1 \leq i < j \leq k$. Building on recent work of Filmus, Hatami, Hosseini and Kelman on…
A totally symmetric set is a subset of a group such that every permutation of the subset can be realized by conjugation in the group. The (non-)existence of large totally symmetric sets obstruct homomorphisms, so bounds on the sizes of…
A subset of $[n] = \{1,2,\ldots,n\}$ is called stable if it forms an independent set in the cycle on the vertex set $[n]$. In 1978, Schrijver proved via a topological argument that for all integers $n$ and $k$ with $n \geq 2k$, the family…
The sumset is one of the most basic and central objects in additive number theory. Many of the most important problems (such as Goldbach's conjecture and Fermat's Last theorem) can be formulated in terms of the sumset $S + S = \{x+y :…
We show that if A is a finite set of integers then it has a subset S of size \log^{1+c} |A| (c>0 absolute) such that s+s' is never in A when s and s' are distinct elements of S.
An unlabeled poset is said to be (2+2)-free if it does not contain an induced subposet that is isomorphic to 2+2, the union of two disjoint 2-element chains. Let $p_n$ denote the number of (2+2)-free posets of size $n$. In a recent paper,…
Our work explores the hardness of $3$SUM instances without certain additive structures, and its applications. As our main technical result, we show that solving $3$SUM on a size-$n$ integer set that avoids solutions to $a+b=c+d$ for $\{a,…
We study the following natural arithmetic question regarding intersecting families: how large can a family of subsets of integers from $\{1, \ldots n\}$ be such that, for every pair of subsets in the family, the intersection contains a sum…
A recent conjecture by C. Carlet on the sum-freedom of the binary multiplicative inverse function can be stated as follows: For each pair of positive integers $(n,k)$ with $3\le k\le n-3$, there is a $k$-dimensional $\Bbb F_2$-subspace $E$…
Let A be a subset of a finite abelian group G. We say that A is sum-free if there is no solution of the equation x + y = z, with x, y, z belonging to the set A. Let SF(G) denotes the set of all sum-free subets of $G$ and $\sigma(G)$ denotes…