Archdeacon–Dinitz–Mattern–Stinson distinct partial sums conjecture

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Let (G,+)(G,+) be an abelian group, let A⊆GA\subseteq G have ∣A∣=k|A|=k, and, for an ordering (a1,…,ak)(a_1,\ldots,a_k) of AA, define partial sums by s0=0s_0=0 and

sj=∑i=1jai(1≤j≤k).s_j=\sum_{i=1}^j a_i\quad (1\leq j\leq k).

Archdeacon–Dinitz–Mattern–Stinson conjecture. For any cyclic group Zn\mathbb{Z}_n and any subset A⊆Zn∖{0}A\subseteq\mathbb{Z}_n\setminus\{0\}, there is an ordering of the elements of AA such that si≠sjs_i\ne s_j for 1≤i<j≤k1\leq i<j\leq k.

This is weaker than Alspach's conjecture because it does not require sk≠0s_k\ne0 and does not compare the positive partial sums with s0s_0. It was verified computationally for n≤25n\leq25 and proved for ∣A∣≤6|A|\leq6; its general validity remains open.

References

Primary source

Jacob Hicks, M. A. Ollis and John. R. Schmitt, “Distinct Partial Sums in Cyclic Groups: Polynomial Method and Constructive Approaches”, arXiv:1809.02684 (2018).

Additional references

2 papers in this index state this conjecture (2017–2018). The statement above is taken from the most recent of them; the others are arXiv:1706.00042.

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