A new approach to the Tarry-Escott problem

Abstract

In this paper we describe a new method of obtaining ideal solutions of the well-known Tarry-Escott problem, that is, the problem of finding two distinct sets of integers $x_i,\;i=1,\,2,\,\dots,\,k+1$ and $y_i,\;i=1,\,2,\,\dots,\,k+1$ such that $ \sum_{i=1}^{k+1} x_i^r = \sum_{i=1}^{k+1} y_i^r,\;\;\;r = 1,\,2,\,\dots,\,k$, where $k$ is a given positive integer. When $k > 3$, only a limited number of parametric/ numerical ideal solutions of the Tarry-Escott problem are known. In this paper, by applying the new method mentioned above, we find several new parametric ideal solutions of the problem when $k \leq 7$. The ideal solutions obtained by this new approach are more general and very frequently, simpler than the ideal solutions obtained by the earlier methods. We also obtain new parametric solutions of certain diophantine systems that are closely related to the Tarry-Escott problem. These solutions are also more general and simpler than the solutions of these diophantine systems published earlier.