Problem

Source: BMO Shortlist 2021

Tags: Balkan, shortlist, 2021, number theory, arithmetic mean



Let $n \geq 2$ be an integer and let \[M=\bigg\{\frac{a_1 + a_2 + ... + a_k}{k}: 1 \le k \le n\text{ and }1 \le a_1 < \ldots < a_k \le n\bigg\}\]be the set of the arithmetic means of the elements of all non-empty subsets of $\{1, 2, ..., n\}$. Find \[\min\{|a - b| : a, b \in M\text{ with } a \neq b\}.\]