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Suppose that $\mathscr{F}$ is a finite union-closed family of sets with $\cup_{A\in \mathscr{F}}A=\{1,2,\ldots,m\}$ and $m\geq 2$. Fix $i\in \{1,2,\ldots,m\}$ and denote $\mathscr{G}:=\{A\backslash \{i\}: A\in \mathscr{F}\}$. For $j\in…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-09-03 Ze-Chun Hu , Yi-Ding Shi , Qian-Qian Zhou

Let $\mathcal{A}$ be a union-closed family of sets with universe $\bigcup_{A \in \mathcal{A}}A = [n] = \{1,\cdots,n\}$ and length $\ell$. We prove that $|\mathcal{A}| \leq \sum_{i=0}^{\ell} \binom{n}{i}$, with equality if and only if…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-11-14 Christopher Bouchard

The union-closed sets conjecture, attributed to P\'eter Frankl from 1979, states that for any non-empty finite union-closed family of finite sets not consisting of only the empty set, there is an element that is in at least half of the sets…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2023-06-08 Masoud Zargar

Frankl's union-closed sets conjecture states that in every finite union-closed set of sets, there is an element that is contained in at least half of the member-sets (provided there are at least two members). The conjecture has an…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2013-03-01 Henning Bruhn , Oliver Schaudt

A family $\mathcal{F}$ on ground set $\{1,2,\ldots, n\}$ is maximal $k$-wise intersecting if every collection of $k$ sets in $\mathcal{F}$ has non-empty intersection, and no other set can be added to $\mathcal{F}$ while maintaining this…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2022-06-30 József Balogh , Ce Chen , Haoran Luo

How large can a family \cal A \subset \cal P [n] be if it does not contain A,B with |A\setminus B| = 1? Our aim in this paper is to show that any such family has size at most \frac{2+o(1)}{n} \binom {n}{\lfloor n/2\rfloor }. This is tight…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2013-11-25 Imre Leader , Eoin Long

The Union Closed Sets Conjecture is one of the most renowned problems in combinatorics. Its appeal lies in the simplicity of its statement contrasted with the potential complexity of its resolution. The conjecture posits that, in any union…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-10-02 Nived J M

Given a finite $n$-element set $X$, a family of subsets ${\mathcal F}\subset 2^X$ is said to separate $X$ if any two elements of $X$ are separated by at least one member of $\mathcal F$. It is shown that if $|\mathcal F|>2^{n-1}$, then one…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2015-08-25 Zsolt Lángi , Márton Naszódi , János Pach , Gábor Tardos , Géza Tóth

A family $\mathcal{F}$ of $k$-subsets of an $n$-set is called $s$-almost $t$-intersecting if each member is $t$-disjoint with at most $s$ members. In this paper, we prove that, if $\left|\mathcal{F}\right|$ is maximum, then $\mathcal{F}$…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2026-01-13 Dehai Liu , Kaishun Wang , Tian Yao

We consider the problem of minimizing the size of a family of sets G such that every subset of 1,...,n can be written as a disjoint union of at most k members of G, where k and n are given numbers. This problem originates in a real-world…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2007-11-20 Yannick Frein , Benjamin Lévêque , Andras Sebo

A set $A$ is said to split a finite set $B$ if exactly half the elements of $B$ (up to rounding) are contained in $A$. We study the dual notions: (1) splitting family, which is a collection of sets such that any subset of $\{1,\ldots,k\}$…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2022-03-15 Samuel Coskey , Bryce Frederickson , Samuel Mathers , Hao-Tong Yan

A family of $k$-subsets $A_1, A_2, ..., A_d$ on $[n]=\{1,2,..., n\}$ is called a $(d, c)$-cluster if the union $A_1\cup A_2 \cup ... \cup A_d$ contains at most $ck$ elements with $c<d$. Let $\mathcal{F}$ be a family of $k$-subsets of an…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2009-04-24 William Y. C. Chen , Jiuqiang Liu , Larry X. W. Wang

In this paper, we focus on families of bipartitions, i.e. set partitions consisting of at most two components. We say that a family of bipartitions is a separating family for a set $S$ if every two elements in $S$ can be separated by some…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2011-11-08 Takahisa Toda , Ivo Vigan

Let Omega be a finite set and let S be a set system on Omega. For x in Omega, we denote by d_{S}(x) the number of members of S containing x. A long-standing conjecture of Frankl states that if S is union-closed then d(x) \geq |S|/2 for some…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2013-02-26 Victor Falgas--Ravry

A family of sets $\mathcal{F} \subseteq 2^{[n]}$ is defined to be $l$-trace $k$-Sperner if for any $l$-subset $L$ of $[n]$ the family of traces $\mathcal{F}|_L=\{F \cap L: F \in \mathcal{F}\}$ does not contain any chain of length $k+1$. In…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2017-12-04 Balazs Patkos

A set system $\mathcal{F}$ is $t$-\textit{intersecting}, if the size of the intersection of every pair of its elements has size at least $t$. A set system $\mathcal{F}$ is $k$-\textit{Sperner}, if it does not contain a chain of length…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2022-09-07 József Balogh , William B. Linz , Balázs Patkós

Let F be a family of subsets of an n-element set not containing four distinct members such that A union B is contained in C intersect D. It is proved that the maximum size of F under this condition is equal to the sum of the two largest…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2007-05-23 Annalisa De Bonis , Gyula O. H. Katona , Konrad J. Swanepoel

We say that a set system $\mathcal{F}$ is $k$-completely hyperseparating if for any vertex $v$, there are at most $k$ sets in $\mathcal{F}$ with intersection $\{v\}$. We determine the minimum size of such set systems on an $n$-element…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2026-03-10 Dániel Gerbner

Given a finite set $X$ of points in $R^n$ and a family $F$ of sets generated by the pairs of points of $X$, we determine volumetric and structural conditions for the sets that allow us to guarantee the existence of a positive-fraction…

Metric Geometry · Mathematics 2016-08-22 Alexander Magazinov , Pablo Soberón

A family of sets is said to be \emph{intersecting} if any two sets in the family have nonempty intersection. In 1973, Erd\H{o}s raised the problem of determining the maximum possible size of a union of $r$ different intersecting families of…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2019-10-09 David Ellis , Noam Lifshitz