Suppose there exist 15 subsets of X, the union of every 7 of these 15 subsets contains at least 41 elements, and there exists no 3 of the 15 subsets whose intersection is nonempty.
Since every element of X can only belong 2 of the 15 subsets, we can suppose that every element of X belongs to exactly 2 of the 15 subsets. Otherwise we can add a few more elements to some sets of the 15 subsets, and the condition still holds.
By the Pigeonhole Principle, there is a set of the 15 subsets (suppose it is A), such that ∣A∣≥⌊152×56⌋+1=8. Let the other 14 sets be A1,A2,…,A14.
The union of every 7 sets of A1,A2,…,A14 contains at least 41 elements. So the total number y≤41C147.
We use another way to compute the value of y.
For a∈X, if a∈/A, then a belongs to exactly 2 sets of A1,A2,…,A14. So a is counted C147−C127 times. If a∈A, then a belongs to only one set of A1,A2,…,A14. So a is counted C147−C137 times. It follows that
41C147≤y≤(56−∣A∣)(C147−C127)+∣A∣(C147−C137)=56(C147−C127)−∣A∣(C137−C127)≤56(C147−C127)−8(C137−C127),
that is, 196≤195, a contradiction.
Next, we prove n≥41.
If n≤40, suppose X={1,2,…,56}. let
Ai={i,i+7,i+14,i+21,i+28,i+35,i+42,i+49},
Bj={j,j+8,j+16,j+24,j+32,j+40,j+48},
It is easy to see that
∣Ai∣∣Bj∣∣Ai∩Bj∣=8(i=1,2,…,7),=7(j=1,2,…,8),=1(1≤i≤7,1≤j≤8).∣Ai∩Aj∣∣Bi∩Bj∣=0(1≤i<j≤7),=0(1≤i<j≤8),
For every 3 of the 15 subsets, there are 2 sets both being Ai, or both being Bj. So the intersection of the 3 sets is empty.
But for every 7 of the 15 subsets, for example,
Ai1,Ai2,…,Ais,Bj1,Bj2,…,Bjt(s+t=7),
we have
∣Ai1∪Ai2∪⋯∪Ais∪Bj1∪Bj2∪⋯∪Bjt∣=∣Ai1∣+∣Ai2∣+⋯+∣Ais∣+∣Bj1∣+∣Bj2∣+⋯+∣Bjt∣−st
=8s+7t−st=8s+7(7−s)−s(7−s)=(s−3)2+40≥40.
So n≥41.