proof of Cauchy-Davenport theorem
There is a proof, essentially from here http://www.math.tau.ac.il/ nogaa/PDFS/annr3.pdf(Imre Ruzsa et al.):
Let and and .
If , the assertion is true, now assume .
Form the polynomial .
The sum is over , with , because there are factors in the product.
Since is a field, there are polynomials of degree and of degree such that for all and for all . Define a polynomial by .
This polynomial coincides with for all in and in , for these , we have, however, . The polynomial is of degree in and of degree in . Let , then is zero for all , and all coefficients must be zero. Finally, is zero for all , and all coefficients of must be zero as elements of .
Should the assertion of the theorem be false, then there are numbers , with and and .
But the monomial does not appear in the second and third sum, because for we have , and for we have .
Then is equal to , this is equal to the binomial coefficient

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, which is not divisible by for , a contradiction
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.
The Cauchy-Davenport theorem
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is proved.
| Title | proof of Cauchy-Davenport theorem |
|---|---|
| Canonical name | ProofOfCauchyDavenportTheorem |
| Date of creation | 2013-03-22 14:34:49 |
| Last modified on | 2013-03-22 14:34:49 |
| Owner | Wolfgang (5320) |
| Last modified by | Wolfgang (5320) |
| Numerical id | 26 |
| Author | Wolfgang (5320) |
| Entry type | Proof |
| Classification | msc 11B05 |