An elementary proof for a result on simulated factoring (Q1320483)

Let \(G\) be a finite abelian group written multiplicatively. Let \(A_ 1,\dots,A_ n\) be subsets of \(G\). If each element \(g\) of \(G\) is uniquely expressible in the form \(g = a_ 1 \dots a_ n\), \(a_ 1 \in A_ 1,\dots,a_ n \in A_ n\), then we say that the product \(A_ 1 \dots A_ n\) is a factorization of \(G\). It was proved that if \(G = A_ 1 \dots A_ n\) is a factorization of the finite abelian group \(G\), where for each \(i\), \(1 \leq i \leq n\), there is a subgroup \(H_ i\) of \(G\) such that \(| A_ i | = | H_ i| \geq 3\) and \(| A_ i \cap H_ i| \geq | A_ i | - 1\). Then \(A_ i = H_ i\) for some \(i\), \(1 \leq i \leq n\) [see: \textit{K. Corrádi, A. D. Sands} and \textit{S. Szabó}, J. Algebra 151, 12-25 (1992; Zbl 0774.20030)]. At a point the proof essentially made use of group characters. In the paper reviewed, the authors give a new proof which is elementary in the sense that it does not use characters.