olymmath

Putnam 1987 B6

  • Session B

Let FF be the field of p2p^2 elements, where pp is an odd prime. Suppose SS is a set of (p2−1)/2(p^2-1)/2 distinct nonzero elements of FF with the property that for each a≠0a\neq 0 in FF, exactly one of aa and −a-a is in SS. Let NN be the number of elements in the intersection S∩{2a:a∈S}S \cap \{2a: a \in S\}. Prove that NN is even.

Curated text Kedlaya Putnam archive. Quoted with source.

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