quadratic permutations
Source: Iran TST 2002 (aka: iranian olympiad/3'rd round/2002)
December 29, 2003
quadraticsinductiongroup theorycombinatorics proposedcombinatorics
Problem Statement
We call a permutation of quadratic if there exists at least a perfect square among the numbers , a_1 \plus{} a_2, , a_1 \plus{} a_2 \plus{} ... \plus{} a_n. Find all natural numbers such that all permutations in are quadratic.
Remark. denotes the -th symmetric group, the group of permutations on elements.