Covering systems with odd moduli (Q2142671)

Let \(\mathbb Z\) be the set of integers, and let \(\mathbb Z^+\) be the set of positive integers. For \(a\in\mathbb Z\) and \(m\in\mathbb Z^+\) let \(a(m)=\{a+km\bigm | k\in\mathbb Z\}.\) If \(n_1>1,\ldots,n_k>1\) and \(a_1(n_1)\cup a_2(n_2)\cup\cdots\cup a_k(n_k)=\mathbb Z,\) we say that \(\{a_1(n_1),\ldots,a_k(n_k)\}\) is a covering system. Does there exist a covering system \(\{a_1(n_1),\ldots,a_k(n_k)\}\) such that the moduli \(n_1,\ldots,n_k\) are odd and distinct? This is the famous odd covering problem posed by Erdős and Selfridge, which remains open. \par In the paper the authors explore a variation of the odd covering problem, allowing an odd prime to appear as a modulus more than once, while all other moduli are distinct and odd. The authors prove the following typical results: (i) There exists a covering system such that all moduli are odd and distinct except that 7 is used exactly four times as a modulus. (ii) There exists a covering system such that all moduli are odd and distinct except that 11 is used exactly seven times as a modulus. (iii) For a prime \(p\ge 23\), there exists a covering system such that all moduli are odd and distinct except that \(p\) is used exactly \(p-5\) times as a modulus.