Wednesday
21
October 2026
2:30-4:00 PM IST
Location
Room 300, School of Arts and Sciences
Central Campus
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When is Zero Unavoidable? A Tiny Trek Through Zero-Sum Theory and Inverse Problems
Arts and Sciences Research Seminar Series
Md Ibrahim Molla
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Institute of Mathematics and Applications, Bhubaneswar
Speaker
How long can a sequence of elements of a finite group evade a zero-sum? This deceptively simple question opens the door to a rich world of zero-sum theory, a fascinating branch of additive combinatorics. It leads to a wide range of intriguing combinatorial problems involving weighted zero-sum invariants, extremal sequences, and inverse problems. In this talk, we will take a tour from classical zero-sum invariants to their modern generalisations, exploring how the rules governing zero-sum sequences shape their extremal structure. Along the way, we will encounter some surprising inverse problems and recent results, culminating in the question of whether we can design weight sets to realise prescribed weighted zero-sum constants.
Speaker
Md Ibrahim Molla
Md Ibrahim Molla is currently a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Institute of Mathematics and Applications (IMA), Bhubaneswar. He received his PhD in Mathematics from the Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Educational and Research Institute (RKMVERI), Belur, in 2024, under the supervision of Professor Sukumar Das Adhikari. His doctoral research focused on inverse problems associated with weighted zero-sum constants. His research interests lie in combinatorics, particularly additive and extremal combinatorics, zero-sum theory, and inverse zero-sum problems, with further interests in combinatorial and additive number theory. He has previously held a postdoctoral position at the National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), Bhubaneswar, and guest faculty positions at NIT Meghalaya and Sister Nivedita University, Kolkata. He has also undertaken research visits to several premier
