Covers of product sets and the Korec-Znám result (Q1103002)

A finite system \(\mathcal D\) of sets \(H_i\) of the form \(H_ i=\{n\in\mathbb{Z}: n\equiv a i \pmod{N_i}\}\) is called covering if every integer belongs to some \(H_i\). The number \(N_i\) is referred to as the modulus of \(H_i\). The system \(\mathcal D\) is called minimal covering if none of its proper subsystems is covering. Denote \(\operatorname{lcp}(\mathcal D)\) the least common multiple of the moduli \(N_i\). Further, for any natural \(k\) with canonical form \(k=\prod^{t}_{j=1}p_ j^{t_ j}\) put \(f(k)=\sum^t_{j=1}t_ j(p_t-1)+1.\) The main result is the following: Theorem. Any minimal covering systems \(\mathcal D\) must contain at least \(f(\operatorname{lcp}(\mathcal D))\) sets. This generalizes some results by I. Korec and the reviewer from 1974.