TOPICS
Search

Erdős-Ginzburg-Ziv Theorem


The Erdős-Ginzburg-Ziv theorem states that every sequence of 2n-1 integers contains n terms whose sum is divisible by n. Equivalently, every sequence of 2n-1 elements of the cyclic group Z/nZ has an n-term zero-sum subsequence (Qu 2026).

The length is sharp. A sequence consisting of n-1 zeros and n-1 ones has no n-term zero-sum subsequence. Thus the Gao constant of a cyclic group of order n is 2n-1.

A counting refinement is the Bialostocki-Lotspeich conjecture, proved by Wang and Zeng (2026).

For higher-rank finite Abelian groups, the corresponding threshold is the Erdős-Ginzburg-Ziv constant.


See also

Gao Constant, Zero-Sum Sequence

Explore with Wolfram|Alpha

References

Erdős, P.; Ginzburg, A.; and Ziv, A. "Theorem in the Additive Number Theory." Bull. Res. Council Israel 10F, 41-43, 1961. https://combinatorica.hu/~p_erdos/1961-25.pdf.Qu, Y. "The Erdős-Ginzburg-Ziv Theorem for Finite Groups." 19 Oct 2026. https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.26122.Wang, G. and Zeng, X. "Enumeration of Zero-Sum Subsequences: A Proof of Bialostocki-Lotspeich Conjecture." 27 Oct 2026. https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.37125.

Cite this as:

Weisstein, Eric W. "Erdős-Ginzburg-Ziv Theorem." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/Erdos-Ginzburg-ZivTheorem.html

Subject classifications