Let . Find the number of subsets of the 2-configuration that are consistent of order 1.
Solution
No more than two of the pairs may be included in a 2-configuration of order 1, since otherwise at least one of would occur more than once. If exactly one is included, say , then must be paired with , respectively, and then and cannot be paired. So either none or exactly two of the five pairs above must be used. If none, then must be paired with , respectively, and we have 1 2-configuration arising in this manner. If exactly two are used, we can check that there are 5 ways to do this without duplicating an element: , , , , . In each case, it is straightforward to check that there is a unique way of pairing up the remaining elements of . So we get 5 2-configurations in this way, and the total is 6.
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