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Print62nd Ukrainian National Mathematical Olympiad
Ukraine number theory
Problem
You are given a set of positive integers such that they all give distinct remainders modulo some positive integer . Prove that for any positive integer this set can be partitioned into nonempty subsets such that the sums of the numbers in these subsets are also distinct modulo .
Solution
Let these numbers be . It is enough to show that you can choose some two of these numbers (with ) so that all the numbers give distinct remainders when divided by , then we can combine the numbers times and get the statement of the problem. If any of the numbers is divisible by , for example, then we can combine the numbers . Otherwise, replace these numbers with their remainders when divided by and sort them. Let . Then we can combine . Indeed: for any , and , so this remainder does not occur among the others.
Techniques
Modular ArithmeticInduction / smoothingColoring schemes, extremal arguments