Problem

Source: China TST 4 2018 Day 2 Q4

Tags: modular arithmetic, arithmetic sequence, number theory



Let $p$ be a prime and $k$ be a positive integer. Set $S$ contains all positive integers $a$ satisfying $1\le a \le p-1$, and there exists positive integer $x$ such that $x^k\equiv a \pmod p$. Suppose that $3\le |S| \le p-2$. Prove that the elements of $S$, when arranged in increasing order, does not form an arithmetic progression.