Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2024/iii/paper-109/2/a/solution

For a sequence in , write for the number of -term subsequences whose sum is zero. We use the following consequence of the Chevalley-Warning theorem: if , then
Indeed, with one variable for each term , apply Chevalley--Warning to
Their degree sum is . A common zero has support of size , or modulo , and each fixed support contributes assignments. Reducing modulo gives the displayed congruence.
Now let the given terms have total sum zero. If no of them summed to zero, delete any one term and apply the congruence to the remaining terms. It gives
so those remaining terms contain a zero-sum -subsequence. Its complement in the original terms has size and sum zero, contradicting the assumption. Therefore the required terms exist.

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