On maximal antihierarchic sets of integers (Q2366018)

Let us be given a fixed \(b>1\) integer and write the positive integers in base-\(b\) representation. Two positive integers are said to be comparable, if every entry in the base-\(b\) representation of one integer is greater than or equal to the corresponding entry in the base-\(b\) representation of the other integer. A set of pairwise incomparable numbers is called an antihierarchic set. The author investigates the following problem: what is the maximum cardinality of an antihierarchic set in the interval \([0,N-1]\)? An explicit formula (although involving alternating signs) answers the problem for \(N=b^ n\), asymptotics is given for the explicit formula in this case, and lower and upper bounds are given for the maximum cardinality of an antihierarchic set for arbitrary \(N\) which differ by a multiplicative factor 4 only. The proofs are based on Sperner type theorems for posets and generating function techniques.