Maximum cardinality of a set of subsets












2












$begingroup$



Let $N$ be a system of subsets of the set $X = {1,2,3,cdots ,n }$ such that there are no three elements $A,B,C in N$ such that $A subset B subset C$. Prove that $$|N| leq 2 cdot {{n}choose{ lfloor n/2 rfloor}}. $$




I have thought about the fact that a semi-independent system of subsets can have at most two elements in common with any chain from $(mathcal{P}(X), subseteq),$ but I do not know how to continue using Sperner's theorem.










share|cite|improve this question











$endgroup$

















    2












    $begingroup$



    Let $N$ be a system of subsets of the set $X = {1,2,3,cdots ,n }$ such that there are no three elements $A,B,C in N$ such that $A subset B subset C$. Prove that $$|N| leq 2 cdot {{n}choose{ lfloor n/2 rfloor}}. $$




    I have thought about the fact that a semi-independent system of subsets can have at most two elements in common with any chain from $(mathcal{P}(X), subseteq),$ but I do not know how to continue using Sperner's theorem.










    share|cite|improve this question











    $endgroup$















      2












      2








      2


      1



      $begingroup$



      Let $N$ be a system of subsets of the set $X = {1,2,3,cdots ,n }$ such that there are no three elements $A,B,C in N$ such that $A subset B subset C$. Prove that $$|N| leq 2 cdot {{n}choose{ lfloor n/2 rfloor}}. $$




      I have thought about the fact that a semi-independent system of subsets can have at most two elements in common with any chain from $(mathcal{P}(X), subseteq),$ but I do not know how to continue using Sperner's theorem.










      share|cite|improve this question











      $endgroup$





      Let $N$ be a system of subsets of the set $X = {1,2,3,cdots ,n }$ such that there are no three elements $A,B,C in N$ such that $A subset B subset C$. Prove that $$|N| leq 2 cdot {{n}choose{ lfloor n/2 rfloor}}. $$




      I have thought about the fact that a semi-independent system of subsets can have at most two elements in common with any chain from $(mathcal{P}(X), subseteq),$ but I do not know how to continue using Sperner's theorem.







      combinatorics discrete-mathematics order-theory extremal-combinatorics






      share|cite|improve this question















      share|cite|improve this question













      share|cite|improve this question




      share|cite|improve this question








      edited Jan 12 at 22:33

























      asked Jan 12 at 17:49







      user606835





























          2 Answers
          2






          active

          oldest

          votes


















          0












          $begingroup$

          Let $mathcal{M}$ be the family of all maximal chains. (We call a chain ${varnothingsubsetneq A_1subsetneq A_2subsetneqcdots subsetneq A_n=X}subset 2^X$ of length $n+1$ as a maximal chain.) Define
          $$
          Q=sum_{Min mathcal{M}}sum_{Ain N} 1_{Ain M}
          $$
          where $1_{Ain M}=1$ if $Ain M$ and is $0$ otherwise. Since for every maximal chain $Minmathcal{M}$, there are at most $2$ distinct $Ain N$ such that $Ain M$, we have
          $$
          Qlesum_{Min mathcal{M}}2=2|mathcal{M}|=2cdot n!.
          $$
          On the other hand, we have
          $$
          Q=sum_{Ain N}sum_{Min mathcal{M}}1_{Ain M}=sum_{Ain N}|A|!(n-|A|)!
          $$
          since the number of maximal chains containing $A$ is $|A|!(n-|A|)!$. Note that $j!(n-j)!$ is minimized when $j=lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloor$. Thus, we have
          $$
          Q= sum_{Ain N}|A|!(n-|A|)!ge lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloor!left(n-lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloorright)!|N|
          $$
          Gathering them together, we get
          $$
          lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloor!left(n-lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloorright)!|N|le 2cdot n!
          $$
          or
          $$
          |N|le 2cdot frac{n!}{lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloor!left(n-lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloorright)!}=2cdot binom{n}{lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloor},
          $$
          as desired.






          share|cite|improve this answer











          $endgroup$





















            1












            $begingroup$

            If $X$ does not contain a $3$-elament chain $Asubset Bsubset C$, then $X$ is the union of two antichains. Namely, the set of all minimal elements of $X$ is an antichain, and the set of all non-minimal elements of $X$ is another antichain. By Sperner's theorem, an antichain of subsets of ${1,2,3,dots,n}$ has at most $binom n{lfloor n/2rfloor}$ elements, so your set $X$ has at most twice that many elements.






            share|cite|improve this answer









            $endgroup$













              Your Answer





              StackExchange.ifUsing("editor", function () {
              return StackExchange.using("mathjaxEditing", function () {
              StackExchange.MarkdownEditor.creationCallbacks.add(function (editor, postfix) {
              StackExchange.mathjaxEditing.prepareWmdForMathJax(editor, postfix, [["$", "$"], ["\\(","\\)"]]);
              });
              });
              }, "mathjax-editing");

              StackExchange.ready(function() {
              var channelOptions = {
              tags: "".split(" "),
              id: "69"
              };
              initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

              StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
              // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
              if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
              StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
              createEditor();
              });
              }
              else {
              createEditor();
              }
              });

              function createEditor() {
              StackExchange.prepareEditor({
              heartbeatType: 'answer',
              autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
              convertImagesToLinks: true,
              noModals: true,
              showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
              reputationToPostImages: 10,
              bindNavPrevention: true,
              postfix: "",
              imageUploader: {
              brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
              contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
              allowUrls: true
              },
              noCode: true, onDemand: true,
              discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
              ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
              });


              }
              });














              draft saved

              draft discarded


















              StackExchange.ready(
              function () {
              StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fmath.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f3071187%2fmaximum-cardinality-of-a-set-of-subsets%23new-answer', 'question_page');
              }
              );

              Post as a guest















              Required, but never shown
























              2 Answers
              2






              active

              oldest

              votes








              2 Answers
              2






              active

              oldest

              votes









              active

              oldest

              votes






              active

              oldest

              votes









              0












              $begingroup$

              Let $mathcal{M}$ be the family of all maximal chains. (We call a chain ${varnothingsubsetneq A_1subsetneq A_2subsetneqcdots subsetneq A_n=X}subset 2^X$ of length $n+1$ as a maximal chain.) Define
              $$
              Q=sum_{Min mathcal{M}}sum_{Ain N} 1_{Ain M}
              $$
              where $1_{Ain M}=1$ if $Ain M$ and is $0$ otherwise. Since for every maximal chain $Minmathcal{M}$, there are at most $2$ distinct $Ain N$ such that $Ain M$, we have
              $$
              Qlesum_{Min mathcal{M}}2=2|mathcal{M}|=2cdot n!.
              $$
              On the other hand, we have
              $$
              Q=sum_{Ain N}sum_{Min mathcal{M}}1_{Ain M}=sum_{Ain N}|A|!(n-|A|)!
              $$
              since the number of maximal chains containing $A$ is $|A|!(n-|A|)!$. Note that $j!(n-j)!$ is minimized when $j=lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloor$. Thus, we have
              $$
              Q= sum_{Ain N}|A|!(n-|A|)!ge lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloor!left(n-lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloorright)!|N|
              $$
              Gathering them together, we get
              $$
              lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloor!left(n-lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloorright)!|N|le 2cdot n!
              $$
              or
              $$
              |N|le 2cdot frac{n!}{lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloor!left(n-lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloorright)!}=2cdot binom{n}{lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloor},
              $$
              as desired.






              share|cite|improve this answer











              $endgroup$


















                0












                $begingroup$

                Let $mathcal{M}$ be the family of all maximal chains. (We call a chain ${varnothingsubsetneq A_1subsetneq A_2subsetneqcdots subsetneq A_n=X}subset 2^X$ of length $n+1$ as a maximal chain.) Define
                $$
                Q=sum_{Min mathcal{M}}sum_{Ain N} 1_{Ain M}
                $$
                where $1_{Ain M}=1$ if $Ain M$ and is $0$ otherwise. Since for every maximal chain $Minmathcal{M}$, there are at most $2$ distinct $Ain N$ such that $Ain M$, we have
                $$
                Qlesum_{Min mathcal{M}}2=2|mathcal{M}|=2cdot n!.
                $$
                On the other hand, we have
                $$
                Q=sum_{Ain N}sum_{Min mathcal{M}}1_{Ain M}=sum_{Ain N}|A|!(n-|A|)!
                $$
                since the number of maximal chains containing $A$ is $|A|!(n-|A|)!$. Note that $j!(n-j)!$ is minimized when $j=lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloor$. Thus, we have
                $$
                Q= sum_{Ain N}|A|!(n-|A|)!ge lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloor!left(n-lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloorright)!|N|
                $$
                Gathering them together, we get
                $$
                lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloor!left(n-lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloorright)!|N|le 2cdot n!
                $$
                or
                $$
                |N|le 2cdot frac{n!}{lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloor!left(n-lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloorright)!}=2cdot binom{n}{lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloor},
                $$
                as desired.






                share|cite|improve this answer











                $endgroup$
















                  0












                  0








                  0





                  $begingroup$

                  Let $mathcal{M}$ be the family of all maximal chains. (We call a chain ${varnothingsubsetneq A_1subsetneq A_2subsetneqcdots subsetneq A_n=X}subset 2^X$ of length $n+1$ as a maximal chain.) Define
                  $$
                  Q=sum_{Min mathcal{M}}sum_{Ain N} 1_{Ain M}
                  $$
                  where $1_{Ain M}=1$ if $Ain M$ and is $0$ otherwise. Since for every maximal chain $Minmathcal{M}$, there are at most $2$ distinct $Ain N$ such that $Ain M$, we have
                  $$
                  Qlesum_{Min mathcal{M}}2=2|mathcal{M}|=2cdot n!.
                  $$
                  On the other hand, we have
                  $$
                  Q=sum_{Ain N}sum_{Min mathcal{M}}1_{Ain M}=sum_{Ain N}|A|!(n-|A|)!
                  $$
                  since the number of maximal chains containing $A$ is $|A|!(n-|A|)!$. Note that $j!(n-j)!$ is minimized when $j=lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloor$. Thus, we have
                  $$
                  Q= sum_{Ain N}|A|!(n-|A|)!ge lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloor!left(n-lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloorright)!|N|
                  $$
                  Gathering them together, we get
                  $$
                  lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloor!left(n-lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloorright)!|N|le 2cdot n!
                  $$
                  or
                  $$
                  |N|le 2cdot frac{n!}{lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloor!left(n-lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloorright)!}=2cdot binom{n}{lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloor},
                  $$
                  as desired.






                  share|cite|improve this answer











                  $endgroup$



                  Let $mathcal{M}$ be the family of all maximal chains. (We call a chain ${varnothingsubsetneq A_1subsetneq A_2subsetneqcdots subsetneq A_n=X}subset 2^X$ of length $n+1$ as a maximal chain.) Define
                  $$
                  Q=sum_{Min mathcal{M}}sum_{Ain N} 1_{Ain M}
                  $$
                  where $1_{Ain M}=1$ if $Ain M$ and is $0$ otherwise. Since for every maximal chain $Minmathcal{M}$, there are at most $2$ distinct $Ain N$ such that $Ain M$, we have
                  $$
                  Qlesum_{Min mathcal{M}}2=2|mathcal{M}|=2cdot n!.
                  $$
                  On the other hand, we have
                  $$
                  Q=sum_{Ain N}sum_{Min mathcal{M}}1_{Ain M}=sum_{Ain N}|A|!(n-|A|)!
                  $$
                  since the number of maximal chains containing $A$ is $|A|!(n-|A|)!$. Note that $j!(n-j)!$ is minimized when $j=lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloor$. Thus, we have
                  $$
                  Q= sum_{Ain N}|A|!(n-|A|)!ge lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloor!left(n-lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloorright)!|N|
                  $$
                  Gathering them together, we get
                  $$
                  lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloor!left(n-lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloorright)!|N|le 2cdot n!
                  $$
                  or
                  $$
                  |N|le 2cdot frac{n!}{lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloor!left(n-lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloorright)!}=2cdot binom{n}{lfloor frac{n}{2}rfloor},
                  $$
                  as desired.







                  share|cite|improve this answer














                  share|cite|improve this answer



                  share|cite|improve this answer








                  edited Jan 12 at 18:50

























                  answered Jan 12 at 18:09









                  SongSong

                  12.5k631




                  12.5k631























                      1












                      $begingroup$

                      If $X$ does not contain a $3$-elament chain $Asubset Bsubset C$, then $X$ is the union of two antichains. Namely, the set of all minimal elements of $X$ is an antichain, and the set of all non-minimal elements of $X$ is another antichain. By Sperner's theorem, an antichain of subsets of ${1,2,3,dots,n}$ has at most $binom n{lfloor n/2rfloor}$ elements, so your set $X$ has at most twice that many elements.






                      share|cite|improve this answer









                      $endgroup$


















                        1












                        $begingroup$

                        If $X$ does not contain a $3$-elament chain $Asubset Bsubset C$, then $X$ is the union of two antichains. Namely, the set of all minimal elements of $X$ is an antichain, and the set of all non-minimal elements of $X$ is another antichain. By Sperner's theorem, an antichain of subsets of ${1,2,3,dots,n}$ has at most $binom n{lfloor n/2rfloor}$ elements, so your set $X$ has at most twice that many elements.






                        share|cite|improve this answer









                        $endgroup$
















                          1












                          1








                          1





                          $begingroup$

                          If $X$ does not contain a $3$-elament chain $Asubset Bsubset C$, then $X$ is the union of two antichains. Namely, the set of all minimal elements of $X$ is an antichain, and the set of all non-minimal elements of $X$ is another antichain. By Sperner's theorem, an antichain of subsets of ${1,2,3,dots,n}$ has at most $binom n{lfloor n/2rfloor}$ elements, so your set $X$ has at most twice that many elements.






                          share|cite|improve this answer









                          $endgroup$



                          If $X$ does not contain a $3$-elament chain $Asubset Bsubset C$, then $X$ is the union of two antichains. Namely, the set of all minimal elements of $X$ is an antichain, and the set of all non-minimal elements of $X$ is another antichain. By Sperner's theorem, an antichain of subsets of ${1,2,3,dots,n}$ has at most $binom n{lfloor n/2rfloor}$ elements, so your set $X$ has at most twice that many elements.







                          share|cite|improve this answer












                          share|cite|improve this answer



                          share|cite|improve this answer










                          answered Jan 13 at 3:16









                          bofbof

                          51.7k558120




                          51.7k558120






























                              draft saved

                              draft discarded




















































                              Thanks for contributing an answer to Mathematics Stack Exchange!


                              • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

                              But avoid



                              • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

                              • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


                              Use MathJax to format equations. MathJax reference.


                              To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




                              draft saved


                              draft discarded














                              StackExchange.ready(
                              function () {
                              StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fmath.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f3071187%2fmaximum-cardinality-of-a-set-of-subsets%23new-answer', 'question_page');
                              }
                              );

                              Post as a guest















                              Required, but never shown





















































                              Required, but never shown














                              Required, but never shown












                              Required, but never shown







                              Required, but never shown

































                              Required, but never shown














                              Required, but never shown












                              Required, but never shown







                              Required, but never shown







                              Popular posts from this blog

                              android studio warns about leanback feature tag usage required on manifest while using Unity exported app?

                              SQL update select statement

                              'app-layout' is not a known element: how to share Component with different Modules