Abstract
An old question, due to Diophantus, asks to find sets of rational numbers such that 1 added to the product of any two elements from the set is a square. We are concerned here with a modification of this question. Let t ≥ 2 be an integer, and let 𝔽 be a field. For d ∈ 𝔽, define f t , d : 𝔽 t → 𝔽 as ft,d(x1,x2,…,xt):=x1x2⋯xt+d.$$\begin{array}{} \displaystyle f_{t,d}(x_1,x_2,\ldots,x_{t}):=x_1x_2\cdots x_{t}+d. \end{array}$$ For any nonempty subset S of 𝔽, we say S is ft,d−closed if ft,d(x1,x2,…,xt):xi∈S and distinct⊆S.$$\begin{array}{} \displaystyle S ~~\text{is}~~ {f_{t,d}-closed} ~~\text{if}~~ \left\{f_{t,d}(x_1,x_2,\ldots,x_{t}):x_i\in S\text{ and distinct}\right\}\subseteq S. \end{array}$$ For any integer n , with t ≤ n ≤ |𝔽|, let 𝒰( n , t , d ) be the union of all f t , d -closed subsets S of 𝔽 with | S |= n . In this article, we investigate values of n , t , d for which 𝒰( n , t , d ) = 𝔽, with particular focus on t = n – 1, where n ∈ {3,4}. Moreover, if 𝒰( n , t , d )≠ 𝔽, we determine in many cases the exact elements of the set 𝔽∖ 𝔽( n , t , d ).