The number of distinct subset sums of a finite set of vectors (Q1801789)

For a finite subset \(A\) in the \(\rho\)-dimensional real linear space, let \(\sigma(A)\) denote the number of distinct sums that can be obtained of \(A\). Let \(s_ \rho(n)\) denote the minimum cardinality of \(\sigma(A)\) over all sets \(A\) of \(n\) nonnegative nonzero vectors that span the \(\sigma\)-dimensional space. The authors prove that for \(n-\rho\) large enough, \(s_ \rho(n)=2^{\rho-2}((n-\rho)^ 2+3(n-\rho)+4)\).