DIMACS TR: 94-01

Inverse Theorems for Subset Sums



Author: Melvyn B. Nathanson

ABSTRACT

Let $A$ be a finite set of integers. For $h \geq 1$, let $S_h(A)$ denote the set of all sums of $h$ distinct elements of $A$. Let $S(A)$ denote the set of all nonempty sums of distinct elements of $A$. The direct problem for subset sums is to find lower bounds for $|S_h(A)|$ and $|S(A)|$ in terms of $|A|$. The inverse problem for subset sums is determine the structure of the finite sets $A$ of integers for which $|S_h(A)|$ and $|S(A)|$ are minimal. In this paper both the direct and the inverse problem for subset sums are solved.

Paper available at: ftp://dimacs.rutgers.edu/pub/dimacs/TechnicalReports/TechReports/1994/94-01.ps
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