On the range of a covering function (Q2565550)

Covering function \(w_ A\) of a finite system of residue classes \(A=\{a_ i\pmod{n_ i}: i=1,\dots,k\}\) is defined as \(w_ A(n)=\text{ card}\{1\leq i\leq k:n\equiv a_ i\pmod{n_ i}\}\), \(n\in{\mathbb Z}\). Two main results of the paper are: (1) if \(w_ A(n)\equiv f\pmod{m}\) for some integers \(m\) and \(f\) and all \(n\), then for any \(t=1,\dots,k\) such that \(mn_t\) does not divide \(\text{ LCM}[n_ 1,\dots,n_ k]\) there exist an \(s\in\{1,\dots,k\}\) with \(s\neq t\) such that \(n_ t| n_ s\); (2) If \(A,B\) are two systems of residue classes both having distinct moduli and \(m\) is an integer not dividing the LCM of all their moduli such that \(w_ A(n)\equiv w_ B(n)\pmod{m}\) for all \(n\in\mathbb Z\), then \(A\) and \(B\) are identical.