A new approach to an old problem of Erdős and Moser

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Abstract: Let etai,i=1,...,n be iid Bernoulli random variables, taking values pm1 with probability 1/2. Given a multiset V of n elements v1,...,vn of an additive group G, we define the emph{concentration probability} of V as ho(V) := sup_{vin G} P(eta_1 v_1 + ... eta_n v_n =v). An old result of Erdos and Moser asserts that if vi are distinct real numbers then ho(V) is O(n3/2logn). This bound was then refined by Sarkozy and Szemeredi to O(n3/2), which is sharp up to a constant factor. The ultimate result dues to Stanley who used tools from algebraic geometry to give a complete description for sets having optimal concentration probability; the result now becomes classic in algebraic combinatorics. In this paper, we will prove that the optimal sets from Stanley's work are stable. More importantly, our result gives an almost complete description for sets having large concentration probability.









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