Exact m-covers and the linear form $∑^k_{s=1} x_s/n_s$ (Q4345852)

In this paper we give a substantial investigation of the linear form \(\sum^k_{s=1}\frac{x_s}{n_s}\) for those \(\{a_s+n_s \mathbb{Z}\}^k_{s=1}\) covering every integer exactly \(m\) times, and establish some beautiful properties of such covers which seem to be in the perfect form. Here are several examples: (i) For \(a=0,1,2,\dots\) and \(t=1,\dots,k\) there are at least \(\bigl(\begin{smallmatrix} m-1\\ [a/n_t]\end{smallmatrix}\bigr)\) subsets \(I\) of \(1,\dots,k\) for which \(t\notin I\) and \(\sum_{s\in I}\frac{1}{n_s}=\frac{a}{n_t}\), where the lower bounds are best possible. (ii) If \(\emptyset\neq I\subseteq\{1,\dots,k\}\) and \((n_s,n_t)\mid a_s-a_t\) for all \(s,t\in I\) then \[ \Bigl\{\Bigl\{\sum_{s\in J}\frac{1}{n_s}\Bigr\}: J\subseteq \{1,\dots,k\}\setminus I\Bigr\}\supseteq \Bigl\{\frac{r}{N(I)}: r=0,1,\dots,N(I)-1\Bigr\}, \] where \(N(I)\) is the least common multiple of those \(n_s\in I\). (iii) For rational \(c\), the number of solutions of the equation \(\sum^k_{s=1}\frac{x_s}{n_s}=c\) with \(x_s\in \{0,1,\dots,n_s-1\}\) for \(s=1,\dots,k\) is the sum of finitely many (not necessarily distinct) prime divisors of \(n_1,\dots,n_k\) if \(c\neq 0,1,2,\dots\), and at least \(k-m\choose n\) if \(c\) equals a nonnegative integer \(n\).