Let denote the 15-element set . Let be a subset of in which all 6 digits appear and in which no 3 members exist which contain together all 6 digits 1, 2, ..., 6. Determine the largest possible size of .
, 2011
Solution
Consider the numbers of , which contain or . Certainly, no of them can contain all digits and all digits appear. Hence .
Consider the partitions:
12, 36, 45,
13, 24, 56,
14, 26, 35,
15, 23, 46,
16, 25, 34.
Since every row is a partition of , it contains all digits, can contain at most two numbers of each of the rows, i.e. .
Now we will prove that is the correct number. Therefore we assume that and will exclude this case by contradiction. Certainly, there is a digit, say , which does not appear at least twice (otherwise at most numbers are missing in ) and at most times (otherwise this digit does not appear in the members of at all). Obviously, every row of the above set of partitions contains exactly members of . W.l.o.g. assume that and . Then consider the following partitions, where bold-faced numbers are members of and numbers in italics are not:
12, 36, 45,
13, 24, 56,
14, 26, 35,
15, 23, 46,
16, 25, 34.
By it follows and by it follows . Now is missing at least members () of the partition , which is a contradiction.