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Recall that A+BA+B denotes the set of all real numbers a+ba+b for aa in AA and bb in BB.

Let ∣A∣=m|A|=m, and ∣B∣=n|B|=n where mm and nn are positive integers and AA, BB are sets of reals. Say A=a1,a2,...,amA={a_1, a_2,...,a_m} and B=b1,b2,...,bnB={b_1, b_2,...,b_n} where the sets are in increasing order. Then note that

a1+b1<a1+b2<a1+b3<...<a1+bn−1<a1+bn,a_1+b_1<a_1+b_2<a_1+b_3< ... <a_1+b_{n-1} < a_1+b_n, a1+bn<a2+bn<a3+bn<...<am−1+bn<am+bn.a_1+b_n<a_2+b_n<a_3+b_n< ... <a_{m-1}+b_n < a_m+b_n.

There are m+n−1m+n-1 terms here, and they are all different. So ∣A+B∣≥∣A∣+∣B∣−1|A+B| \ge |A|+|B|-1 in the reals, and certainly in any subset of the reals.

This is also true modulo a prime pp (with the technicality that if ∣A∣+∣B∣≥p+1|A|+|B| \ge p+1, then ∣A+B∣=p|A+B| = p), and it is called the Cauchy-Davenport Theorem.

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(2009 USAMO #2) Let nn be a positive integer. Determine the size of the largest subset of {−n,−n+1,…,n−1,n}\{-n, -n+1, \ldots , n-1, n\} which does not contain three elements a,b,ca, b, c (not necessarily distinct) satisfying a+b+c=0a+b+c=0.

Type a concept, like “slope” or “photosynthesis”.

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