On the minimum number of disjoint pairs in a family of finite sets

The following conjecture of Katona is proved. Let X be a finite set of cardinality n, 1 ? m ? 2ⁿ. Then there is a family $\text{F}$, |$\text{F}$| = m, such that F ∈ $\text{F}$, G ? X, | G | > | F | implies G ∈ $\text{F}$ and $\text{F}$ minimizes the number of pairs (F₁, F₂), F₁, F₂ ∈ $\text{F}$ F₁ ∩ F₂ = ? over all families consisting of m subsets of X.     

Strong law for the bootstrap

Let X₁, X₂, X₃, … be i.i.d. r.v. with E|X₁| < ∞, E X₁ = μ. Given a realization X = (X₁,X₂,…) and integers n and m, construct Y_n,i, i = 1, 2, …, m as i.i.d. r.v. with conditional distribution $\text{P}{}^1\text{(Y}{}_{\mathrm{n,i}}\text{= X}{}_{\mathrm{j}}\text{) =}\text{1}\text{n}$ for 1 ? j ? n. ($\text{P}{}^1$ denotes conditional distribution given X). Conditions relating the growth rate of m with n and the moments of X₁ are given to ensure the almost sure convergence of $\text{(}\text{1}\text{m}\text{)Σ}{}^{\mathrm{m}}{}_{\mathrm{i=1}}\text{Y}{}_{\mathrm{n,i}}$ toμ. This equation is of some relevance in the theory of Bootstrap as developed by Efron (1979) and Bickel and Freedman (1981).     

On the solutions to x′(t) = A(t) x (t) over all A(t), where P ⩽ A(t) ⩽ Q

Let P_ij and q_ij be positive numbers for i ≠ j, i, j = 1, …, n, and consider the set of matrix differential equations x′(t) = A(t) x(t) over all A(t), where a_ij(t) is piecewise continuous, a_ij(t) = ?∑_{i ≠ j}a_ij(t), and p_ij ? a_ij(t) ? q_ij all t. A solution x is also to satisfy ∑_{i = 1}ⁿx_i(0) = 1. Let C_t denote the set of all solutions, evaluated at t to equations described above. It is shown that $\text{C}{}_{\mathrm{t}}$, the topological closure of C_t, is a compact convex set for each t. Further, the set valued function $\text{C}{}_{\mathrm{t}}$, of t is continuous and $\text{limit}{}_{\mathrm{t\; \to \; \infty }}\text{C}\text{?}{}_{\mathrm{t}}\text{= ∩}\text{C}\text{?}{}_{\mathrm{t}}$.     

Construction of translation planes from t-spread sets

A t-spread set [1] is a set $\text{C}$ of (t + 1) × (t + 1) matrices over GF(q) such that ∥C∥ = q^t+1, 0 ? C, I?C, and det(X ? Y) ≠ 0 if X and Y are distinct elements of $\text{C}$. The amount of computation involved in constructing t-spread sets is considerable, and the following construction technique reduces somewhat this computation. Construction: Let $\text{G}$ be a subgroup of GL(t + 1, q), (the non-singular (t + 1) × (t + 1) matrices over GF(q)), such that ∥G∥|a^t+1, and det (G ? H) ≠ 0 if G and H are distinct elements of $\text{G}$. Let A₁, A₂, …, A_n?GL(t + 1, q) such that det(A_i ? G) ≠ 0 for i = 1, …, n and all G?G, and det(A_i ? A_jG) ≠ 0 for i > j and all G?G. Let $\text{C = \&{0\&} ∪ G ∪ A}{}_1\text{G ∪ … ∪ A}{}_{\mathrm{n}}\text{G}$, and ∥C∥ = q^t+1. Then $\text{C}$ is a t-spread set. A t-spread set can be used to define a left V ? W system over V(t + 1, q) as follows: x + y is the vector sum; let e?V(t + 1, q), then xoy = yM(x) where M(x) is the unique element of $\text{C}$ with x = eM(x). Theorem: Let$\text{C}$be a t-spread set and F the associatedV ? Wsystem; the left nucleus = {y | CM(y) = C}, and the middle nucleus = }y | M(y)C = C}. Theorem: For$\text{C}$constructed as aboveG ? {M(x) | x?N_λ}. This construction technique has been applied to construct a V ? W system of order 25 with ∥N_λ∥ = 6, and ∥N_μ∥ = 4. This system coordinatizes a new projective plane.     

On a problem of Katona on minimal completely separating systems with restrictions

Let S be a set of n elements, and k a fixed positive integer $\text{<}\text{1}\text{2}\text{n}$. Katona's problem is to determine the smallest integer m for which there exists a family $\text{A}$ = {A₁, …, A_m} of subsets of S with the following property: |_i| ? k (i = 1, …, m), and for any ordered pair x_i, x_i ∈ S (i ≠ j) there is A₁ ∈ $\text{A}$ such that x_i ∈ A₁, x_j ? A₁. It is given in this note that $\text{m = ?}\text{2n}\text{k}\text{?}\text{if}\text{1}\text{2}\text{k}{}^2\text{? 2}$.     

Minimum norm problems over transportation polytopes

We consider the problem of updating input-output matrices, i.e., for given (m,n) matrices A ? 0, W ? 0 and vectors u ? $\text{R}$^m, v?$\text{R}$ⁿ, find an (m,n) matrix X ? 0 with prescribed row sums Σⁿ_j=1X_ij = u_i (i = 1,…,m) and prescribed column sums Σ^m_i=1X_ij = v_j (j = 1,…,n) which fits the relations X_ij = A_ij + λ_iW_ij + W_ij + W_ijμ_j for all i,j and some λ?$\text{R}$^m, μ?$\text{R}$ⁿ. Here we consider the question of existence of a solution to this problem, i.e., we shall characterize those matrices A, W and vectors u,v which lead to a solvable problem. Furthermore we outline some computational results using an algorithm of [2].     

An extremal problem for sets with applications to graph theory

Let X₁, …, X_n be n disjoint sets. For 1 ? i ? n and 1 ? j ? h let A_ij and B_ij be subsets of X_i that satisfy |A_ij| ? r_i and |B_ij| ? s_i for 1 ? i ? n, 1 ? j ? h, $\text{(∪}{}_{\mathrm{i}}\text{A}{}_{\mathrm{ij}}\text{) ∩ (∪}{}_{\mathrm{i}}\text{B}{}_{\mathrm{ij}}\text{) = ?}$ for 1 ? j ? h, $\text{(∪}{}_{\mathrm{i}}\text{A}{}_{\mathrm{ij}}\text{) ∩ (∪}{}_{\mathrm{i}}\text{B}{}_{\mathrm{il}}\text{) ≠ ?}$ for 1 ? j < l ? h. We prove that $\text{h?}\text{Π}\text{i=1}\text{n}\text{r}{}_{\mathrm{i}}\text{+s}{}_{\mathrm{i}}\text{r}{}_{\mathrm{i}}$. This result is best possible and has some interesting consequences. Its proof uses multilinear techniques (exterior algebra).     

A generalization of the Kruskal-Katona theorem

Let k_n ? k_n?1 ? … ? k₁ be positive integers and let ($\text{i}\text{j}$) denote the coefficient of xⁱ in $\text{Π}\text{r=1}\text{j}\text{(1 + x + x}{}^2\text{+ … + x}{}^{\mathrm{kr}}\text{)}$. For given integers l, m, where 1 ? l ? k_n + k_n?1 + … + k₁ and $\text{1 ? m ? (}\text{n}\text{n}\text{)}$, it is shown that there exist unique integers m(l), m(l ? 1),…, m(t), satisfying certain conditions, for which $\text{m = (}\text{m(l)}\text{l}\text{+ (}\text{m(l?1)}\text{l?1}\text{) + … + (}\text{m(t)}\text{t}\text{)}$. Moreover, any m l-subsets of a multiset with k_i elements of type i, i = 1, 2,…, n, will contain at least $\text{(}\text{m(l)}\text{l?1}\text{) + (}\text{m(l?1)}\text{l?2}\text{) + … + (}\text{m(t)}\text{t?1}$ different (l ? 1)-subsets. This result has been anticipated by Greene and Kleitman, but the formulation there is not completely correct. If k₁ = 1, the numbers ($\text{j}\text{i}$) are binomial coefficients and the result is the Kruskal-Katona theorem.     

Approximation by rational modules in Sobolev and Lipschitz norms

Let X?C be compact, 0>n∈Z, and g a continuous function on X. Let R(n,g,X) be the rational module consisting of the functions on X of the type r₀ + r₁g + ··· + r_ngⁿ, where r_j is a rational function with poles off X, 0 ? j ? n. It is shown that if X is nowhere dense, g is sufficiently smooth, and $\text{}\text{?}\text{t6g(z) ≠ 0, z ∈ X}$, then the restriction to X of each function in C∈(C) is approximable in the Lip(n ? 1, X)-norm, n ? 2, by functions in R(n, g, X). Also dealt with are approximation problems in Sobolev norms by more general types of rational modules.     

Sperner systems consisting of pairs of complementary subsets

It was proved by Erdös, Ko, and Radó (Intersection theorems for systems of finite sets, Quart. J. Math. Oxford Ser.12 (1961), 313–320.) that if $\text{A}$ = {;A₁,…, A_l}; consists of k-subsets of a set with n > 2k elements such that A_i ∩ A_j ≠ ? for all i, j then l ? (_k?1^n?1). Schönheim proved that if A₁, …, A_l are subsets of a set S with n elements such that A_i ? A_j, A_i ∩ A_j ≠ ø and A_i ∪ A_j ≠ S for all i ≠ j then $\text{l ? (}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>[</mtext><mtext>n</mtext><mtext>2</mtext><mtext>]\; ?\; 1</mtext>}}{}^{\mathrm{n\; ?\; 1}}\text{)}$. In this note we prove a common strengthening of these results.     

A conjecture of recski in combinatorial set theory

A p-cover of $\text{n = {1, 2,…,}\text{n}\text{}}$ is a family of subsets $\text{S}{}_{\mathrm{i}}\text{≠ ?}$ such that ∪ S_i = n and |S_i ∩ S_i| ? p for i ≠ j. We prove that for fixed p, the number of p-cover of n is O(n^p+1logn).     

General theorems on rates of convergence in distribution of random variables I. General limit theorems

Let (X_n)_n?$\text{N}$ be a sequence of real, independent, not necessarily identically distributed random variables (r.v.) with distribution functions F_Xn, and S_n = Σ_i=1ⁿX_i. The authors present limit theorems together with convergence rates for the normalized sums ?(n)S_n, where ?: $\text{N}$ → $\text{R}$⁺, ?(n) → 0, n → ∞, towards appropriate limiting r.v. X, the convergence being taken in the weak (star) sense. Thus higher order estimates are given for the expression ∝_$\text{R}$f(x) d[F_?(n)Sn(x) ? F_X(x)] which depend upon the normalizing function ?, decomposability properties of X and smoothness properties of the function f under consideration. The general theorems of this unified approach subsume O- and o-higher order error estimates based upon assumptions on associated moments. These results are also extended to multi-dimensional random vectors.     

Bound on integrals: Elimination of the dual and reduction of the number of equality constraints

Let L_j (j = 1, …, n + 1) be real linear functions on the convex set $\text{F}$ of probability distributions. We consider the problem of maximization of L_n+1(F) under the constraint F ? $\text{F}$ and the equality constraints L₁(F) = z₁ (i = 1, …, n). Incorporating some of the equality constraints into the basic set $\text{F}$, the problem is equivalent to a problem with less equality constraints. We also show how the dual problems can be eliminated from the statement of the main theorems and we give a new illuminating proof of the existence of particular solutions.The linearity of the functions L_j(j = 1, …, n + 1) can be dropped in several results.     

On the rate for uniform strong consistency of empirical distributions of independent nonidentically distributed multivariate random variables

Let X_j = (X_1j ,…, X_pj), j = 1,…, n be n independent random vectors. For x = (x₁ ,…, x_p) in R^p and for α in [0, 1], let F_j${}^1$(x) = αI(X_1j < x₁ ,…, X_pj < x_p) + (1 ? α) I(X_1j ≤ x₁ ,…, X_pj ≤ x_p), where I(A) is the indicator random variable of the event A. Let F_j(x) = E(F_j${}^1$(x)) and D_n = sup_{x, α} max_{1 ≤ N ≤ n} |Σ₀ⁿ(F_j${}^1$(x) ? F_j(x))|. It is shown that P[D_n ≥ L] < 4pL exp{?2(L²n^?1 ? 1)} for each positive integer n and for all L² ≥ n; and, as n → ∞, $\text{D}{}_{\mathrm{n}}\text{= 0((n}\text{log}\text{n)}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{)}$ with probability one.     

On minimally subspace-comparable F-spaces

An F-space (complete metric linear space) is minimal if it admits no strictly weaker linear Hausdorff topology, and quotient (q-) minimal if all of its Hausdorff quotients are minimal. Two F-spaces are (q-minimally) minimally s-comparable if they have no isomorphic (q-) nonminimal closed linear subspaces. It is proved that if X, Y are (q-minimally (resp., minimally) s-comparable F-subspaces of an arbitrary topological linear space E (resp., with X ∩ Y = {0}), then X + Y is an F-subspace of E. Also, if X₁,…, X_n are F-subspaces of E, then X₁ + ··· + X_n is an F-subspace of E, provided that $\text{X}{}_{\mathrm{i}}\text{F}\text{and}\text{X}{}_{\mathrm{j}}\text{G}$ are minimally s-comparable whenever F and G are closed minimal subspaces of X_i and X_j, i ≠ j. These are analogs of some results due to Gurariǐ and Rosenthal concerning totally incomparable Banach spaces.     

Spaces of matrices of equal rank

Let M_m,n(F) denote the space of all mXn matrices over the algebraically closed field F. A subspace of M_m,n(F), all of whose nonzero elements have rank k, is said to be essentially decomposable if there exist nonsingular mXn matrices U and V respectively such that for any element A, UAV has the form

$\text{UAV=}\text{A}{}_1\text{A}{}_2\text{A}{}_3\text{0}$

where A₁ is iX(k–i) for some i?k. Theorem: If $\text{K}$ is a space of rank k matrices, then either $\text{K}$ is essentially decomposable or dim $\text{K}$?k+1. An example shows that the above bound on non-essentially-decomposable spaces of rank k matrices is sharp whenever n?2k–1.     

On intersecting families of finite sets

Let X = [1, n] be a finite set of cardinality n and let $\text{F}$ be a family of k-subsets of X. Suppose that any two members of $\text{F}$ intersect in at least t elements and for some given positive constant c, every element of X is contained in less than c |$\text{F}$| members of $\text{F}$. How large |$\text{F}$| can be and which are the extremal families were problems posed by Erdös, Rothschild, and Szemerédi. In this paper we answer some of these questions for n > n₀(k, c). One of the results is the following: let $\text{t = 1,}\text{3}\text{7}\text{< c <}\text{1}\text{2}$. Then whenever $\text{F}$ is an extremal family we can find a 7-3 Steiner system $\text{B}$ such that $\text{F}$ consists exactly of those k-subsets of X which contain some member of $\text{B}$.     

On positional games

Let {A_i} be a family of sets and let S = ∩_iA_i. By a positional game we shall mean a game played by two players on {A_i}. The players alternately pick elements of S and that player wins who fist has all the elements of one of the A_i. This paper deals with almost disjoint hypergraphs only, i.e., |A_i∪A_j| ? 1 if i ≠ j. Let $\text{M}{}^1\text{(n)}$ be the smallest integer for which there is an almost disjoint n-uniform hypergraph $\text{|T| = M}{}^1\text{(n)}$, so that the first player has a winning strategy. It is shown that $\text{lim}{}_{\mathrm{n}}\text{[M}{}^1\text{(n)]}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>n</mtext>}}\text{= 4}$, which was conjectured by Erdös. The same method is applied to prove a conjecture of Hales and Jewett on r-dimensional tick-tack-toe if r is large enough. Finally we prove that for an arbitrary almost disjoint n-uniform hypergraph the second player has such a strategy that the first player unable to win in his mth move if m < (2 ? ?)ⁿ.     

Complementing and exactly covering sequences

The following is proved (in a slightly more general setting): Let α₁, …, α_m be positive real, γ₁, …, γ_m real, and suppose that the system [nα_i + γ_i], i = 1, …, m, n = 1, 2, …, contains every positive integer exactly once (= a complementing system). Then $\text{α}{}_{\mathrm{i}}\text{α}{}_{\mathrm{j}}$ is an integer for some i ≠ j in each of the following cases: (i) m = 3 and m = 4; (ii) m = 5 if all α_i but one are integers; (iii) m ? 5, two of the α_i are integers, at least one of them prime; (iv) m ? 5 and α_n ? 2ⁿ for n = 1, 2, …, m ? 4.For proving (iv), a method of reduction is developed which, given a complementing system of m sequences, leads under certain conditions to a derived complementing system of m ? 1 sequences.