Subsets of abelian groups closed under addition or subtraction
Abstract
In this article, we first describe all nonempty sets of integers S with the property that for all n and m in S, not necessarily distinct, the set {n-m,n+m} intersected with S consists of a single element. These are the sets with at most two elements, one of which is 0, and the infinite sets {rk}, where r is a fixed positive integer and k runs over all integers not divisible by 3. In the later sections, we solve the analogous problem for subsets of abelian groups. We also discuss, but do not completely solve, the analogous problem for nonabelian groups.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Advanced Topology and Set Theory
Rings
Modules
and Algebras
Finite Group Theory Research
Publication details
- Journal / source
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Publication date
- 31 January 2026
- Document type
- Preprint