B2.5

Combinatorics | Part II, 2004

State and prove Sperner's lemma on antichains.

The family AP[n]\mathcal{A} \subset \mathcal{P}[n] is said to split [n][n] if, for all distinct i,j[n]i, j \in[n], there exists AAA \in \mathcal{A} with iAi \in A but jAj \notin A. Prove that if A\mathcal{A} splits [n][n] then n(aa/2)n \leq\left(\begin{array}{c}a \\ \lfloor a / 2\rfloor\end{array}\right), where a=Aa=|\mathcal{A}|.

Show moreover that, if A\mathcal{A} splits [n][n] and no element of [n][n] is in more than k<a/2k<\lfloor a / 2\rfloor members of A\mathcal{A}, then n(ak)n \leq\left(\begin{array}{l}a \\ k\end{array}\right).

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