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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Huang, Jing
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.18805
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author Huang, Jing
author_facet Huang, Jing
contents Móricz and Nagy introduced the problem of maximizing the number of $r$-element subsets with rational sums in an $n$-element set of irrational numbers, and showed that it is equivalent to an extremal zero-sum problem. They determined the exact maximum in several cases. For the remaining range, they presented an explicit construction of an $n$-element set of irrational numbers containing exactly $m\binom{n-m}{r-1}$ such subsets, where $m=\lfloor n/r\rfloor$. They conjectured that this construction is always optimal for any $1<r<n$. In this paper, we confirm that conjecture. Our proof combines an order-theoretic antichain argument for zero-sum subsets with a sharp maximization of the resulting binomial expressions. As a consequence, we determine exactly the maximum number of $r$-term zero-sum subsequences in sequences of $n$ nonzero integers.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_18805
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Proof of a Conjecture of Móricz and Nagy on Rational-Value Sums
Huang, Jing
Combinatorics
11B75, 05D05
Móricz and Nagy introduced the problem of maximizing the number of $r$-element subsets with rational sums in an $n$-element set of irrational numbers, and showed that it is equivalent to an extremal zero-sum problem. They determined the exact maximum in several cases. For the remaining range, they presented an explicit construction of an $n$-element set of irrational numbers containing exactly $m\binom{n-m}{r-1}$ such subsets, where $m=\lfloor n/r\rfloor$. They conjectured that this construction is always optimal for any $1<r<n$. In this paper, we confirm that conjecture. Our proof combines an order-theoretic antichain argument for zero-sum subsets with a sharp maximization of the resulting binomial expressions. As a consequence, we determine exactly the maximum number of $r$-term zero-sum subsequences in sequences of $n$ nonzero integers.
title A Proof of a Conjecture of Móricz and Nagy on Rational-Value Sums
topic Combinatorics
11B75, 05D05
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.18805