The exact bound in the Erdős-Ko-Rado theorem for cross-intersecting families (Q810546): Difference between revisions

Start out with an n-element set and let A be a family of k-element subsets; let B be a family of m-element subsets. Families A and B are called cross-intersecting if the intersection of any member of A with any member of B is non-null. The authors improve earlier results and show that \[ | A| | B| \leq \left( \begin{matrix} n-1\\ k-1\end{matrix} \right)\left( \begin{matrix} n-1\\ m-2\end{matrix} \right) \] whenever \(n\geq 2k\) and \(n\geq 2m\). They also establish the uniqueness of the extremal families except for the special case \(n=2k=2m\).