{"id":{"repo_id":"gmu","oai_identifier":"oai:MARS:1920/8651"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/gmu/oai:MARS:1920/8651","repository":{"repo_id":"gmu","name":"George Mason University","base_url":"https://mars.gmu.edu/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Zero Sum Properties in Groups","abstract":"A conjecture by Erdős and Lemke in elementary number theory goes as follows: If d is a divisor of n and we have d divisors of n, say a1,...,ad, not necessarily distinct, can we always find a subsequence among them such that their sum is (i) divisible by d, and (ii) at most n? -This was proved by Lemke and Kleitman to be indeed the case. They also noted that an equivalent version of their theorem, stated in terms of the additive cyclic group G = Zn is as follows: Every sequence of n elements of G, not necessarily distinct, contains a subsequence g1,...,gk such that g1+...+gk = 0 and Σki=1/|gi|<=1. This has been shown to be correct for every nite abelian group G. Hence a natural question is therefore if this holds true for any finite group G. By the aid of a computer this has been verified for all solvable groups of order 21 or less, but it is still not known whether it holds for all finite groups. - This paper proves that some well-known non-abelian groups have this property, for example the alternating groups An and symmetric groups Sn for n = 3,4,5,6, the dihedral group Dn for every n and the dicyclic group of every order. Some speculations on possible plan of attack for Sn for larger n are finally discussed.","abstract_html":"A conjecture by Erdős and Lemke in elementary number theory goes as follows: If d is a divisor of n and we have d divisors of n, say a1,...,ad, not necessarily distinct, can we always find a subsequence among them such that their sum is (i) divisible by d, and (ii) at most n? -This was proved by Lemke and Kleitman to be indeed the case. They also noted that an equivalent version of their theorem, stated in terms of the additive cyclic group G = Zn is as follows: Every sequence of n elements of G, not necessarily distinct, contains a subsequence g1,...,gk such that g1+...+gk = 0 and Σki=1/|gi|&lt;=1. This has been shown to be correct for every nite abelian group G. Hence a natural question is therefore if this holds true for any finite group G. By the aid of a computer this has been verified for all solvable groups of order 21 or less, but it is still not known whether it holds for all finite groups. - This paper proves that some well-known non-abelian groups have this property, for example the alternating groups An and symmetric groups Sn for n = 3,4,5,6, the dihedral group Dn for every n and the dicyclic group of every order. Some speculations on possible plan of attack for Sn for larger n are finally discussed.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Wu, Angelina A."],"institution":null,"degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2014,"date_issued":"2014-03-09","date_published":"2014-03-09","updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:51:56Z","subjects":["Zero sum","Isomorphism","Symmetric group","Group partition","Davenport Constant"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["hdl:1920/8651"],"render_values":[{"text":"hdl:1920/8651","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":null,"outbound_label":null,"outbound_source":null},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2014-03-09"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Zero sum","Isomorphism","Symmetric group","Group partition","Davenport Constant"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["hdl:1920/8651"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.other","label":"Dc Description Other","values":["A conjecture by Erdős and Lemke in elementary number theory goes as follows: If d is a divisor of n and we have d divisors of n, say a1,...,ad, not necessarily distinct, can we always find a subsequence among them such that their sum is (i) divisible by d, and (ii) at most n? -This was proved by Lemke and Kleitman to be indeed the case. They also noted that an equivalent version of their theorem, stated in terms of the additive cyclic group G = Zn is as follows: Every sequence of n elements of G, not necessarily distinct, contains a subsequence g1,...,gk such that g1+...+gk = 0 and Σki=1/|gi|<=1. This has been shown to be correct for every nite abelian group G. Hence a natural question is therefore if this holds true for any finite group G. By the aid of a computer this has been verified for all solvable groups of order 21 or less, but it is still not known whether it holds for all finite groups. - This paper proves that some well-known non-abelian groups have this property, for example the alternating groups An and symmetric groups Sn for n = 3,4,5,6, the dihedral group Dn for every n and the dicyclic group of every order. Some speculations on possible plan of attack for Sn for larger n are finally discussed."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Zero Sum Properties in Groups"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:date.issued":["2014-03-09"],"dc:description.other":["A conjecture by Erdős and Lemke in elementary number theory goes as follows: If d is a divisor of n and we have d divisors of n, say a1,...,ad, not necessarily distinct, can we always find a subsequence among them such that their sum is (i) divisible by d, and (ii) at most n? -This was proved by Lemke and Kleitman to be indeed the case. They also noted that an equivalent version of their theorem, stated in terms of the additive cyclic group G = Zn is as follows: Every sequence of n elements of G, not necessarily distinct, contains a subsequence g1,...,gk such that g1+...+gk = 0 and Σki=1/|gi|<=1. This has been shown to be correct for every nite abelian group G. Hence a natural question is therefore if this holds true for any finite group G. By the aid of a computer this has been verified for all solvable groups of order 21 or less, but it is still not known whether it holds for all finite groups. - This paper proves that some well-known non-abelian groups have this property, for example the alternating groups An and symmetric groups Sn for n = 3,4,5,6, the dihedral group Dn for every n and the dicyclic group of every order. Some speculations on possible plan of attack for Sn for larger n are finally discussed."],"dc:identifier":["hdl:1920/8651"],"dc:subject":["Zero sum","Isomorphism","Symmetric group","Group partition","Davenport Constant"],"dc:title":["Zero Sum Properties in Groups"],"dc:type":["Thesis"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:51:56Z"}