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BALTIC-WAY 2010 Problem 18

  • Answer

Let pp be a prime number. For each k,1≤k≤p−1k, 1 \leq k \leq p-1, there exists a unique integer denoted by k−1k^{-1} such that 1≤k−1≤p−11 \leq k^{-1} \leq p-1 and k−1⋅k≡1( mod p)k^{-1} \cdot k \equiv 1(\bmod p). Prove that the sequence

1−1,1−1+2−1,1−1+2−1+3−1,…,1−1+2−1+⋯+(p−1)−11^{-1}, 1^{-1}+2^{-1}, 1^{-1}+2^{-1}+3^{-1}, \ldots, 1^{-1}+2^{-1}+\cdots+(p-1)^{-1}

(addition modulo pp ) contains at most (p+1)/2(p+1) / 2 distinct elements.

Dataset text NuminaMath olympiads. Quoted with source.

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\frac{p+1}{2}

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