Problem

Source: 2023 Hong Kong TST

Tags: algebra, set theory, TST



Let $n\ge 4$ be a positive integer. Consider any set $A$ formed by $n$ distinct real numbers such that the following condition holds: for every $a\in A$, there exist distinct elements $x, y, z \in A$ such that $\left| x-a \right|, \left| y-a \right|, \left| z-a \right| \ge 1$. For each $n$, find the greatest real number $M$ such that $\sum_{a\in A}^{}\left| a \right|\ge M$.