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Research notes on every problem, and a library of the papers behind them. Built from the open erdos repository.

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Claim. Let t(N)t(N) be the largest number of subsets of {1,…,N}\{1,\ldots,N\} whose pairwise intersections are all nonempty arithmetic progressions, the quantity Problem 272 asks for. Theorem 2.1 of Szabó, recorded on the card Szabó 1999, gives t(N)<N2/2+O(N5/3log⁡3N)t(N)<N^2/2+O(N^{5/3}\log^3N), which with the lower bound of the paper's own Section 5 construction below, at least the (N2)+1\binom N2+1 members of the family of Simonovits and Sós, yields

t(N)=N22+O ⁣(N5/3(log⁡N)3),t(N)=\frac{N^2}{2}+O\!\left(N^{5/3}(\log N)^3\right),

the leading asymptotic t(N)=(1/2+o(1))N2t(N)=(1/2+o(1))N^2, which the site's commentary calls the resolution of the asymptotic question. The proof splits a family into progressions and non-progressions, bounds the large non-progressions (Lemma 2.2: determining triples counted through Lemma 1 of Simonovits and Sós, and a separate count for a progression plus one point) and, by Theorem 4 of Simonovits and Sós, the small non-progressions when they have empty common intersection, and, when the small non-progressions share a point cc, attaches to each a determining triple through cc whose two essential elements are counted like the endpoints of a progression; a gcd count over pairs of differences couples the two types and the endpoint sums give the N2/2N^2/2 main term. Section 5 of the paper gives, for c=⌈N/2⌉c=\lceil N/2\rceil, a family obtained from the sets of at most three elements through cc by adding, for each 1≤x≤⌊(N−1)/4⌋1\le x\le\lfloor(N-1)/4\rfloor, the five-term progression {c−2x,c−x,c,c+x,c+2x}\{c-2x,c-x,c,c+x,c+2x\} and its two four-term subprogressions through cc and deleting the two triples through cc that obstruct them; it has

(N2)+⌊N−14⌋+1\binom N2+\left\lfloor\frac{N-1}{4}\right\rfloor+1

members, which refutes the conjecture of Simonovits and Sós that (N2)+1\binom N2+1 is the exact value. Section 6 asks two questions: whether every member of an extremal family contains a fixed integer (the kernel question) and whether t(N)≤N2/2+O(N)t(N)\le N^2/2+O(N) (the linear-error question, answered yes on JenW1N's claim page).

Covers. The asymptotic t(N)=N2/2+O(N5/3(log⁡N)3)t(N)=N^2/2+O(N^{5/3}(\log N)^3), the lower bound t(N)≥(N2)+⌊(N−1)/4⌋+1t(N)\ge\binom N2+\lfloor(N-1)/4\rfloor+1, and the refutation of the Simonovits–Sós conjecture. Not covered: the exact value of t(N)t(N), which the catalog question asks for, the linear error term and the kernel question.

Depends on. Nothing in this wiki: the proof uses Lemma 1 and Theorem 4 of Simonovits and Sós as cited inputs, and the earlier claim page records only that paper's bounds, not an input the asymptotic rests on.

Acceptance. Refereed: European Journal of Combinatorics 20 (1999), no. 5, 429--444, the DOI linked above; the publication record dates the issue to July 1999, filled to the first of the month for this page's name. Reviewed is not listed: the site labels the problem OPEN, and its commentary crediting Szabó with the asymptotic and the refutation is commentary on an open problem, not acceptance of a solution. Formalized is not listed: the formal-conjectures catalog states the asymptotic as the variant szabo of its file for the problem and marks it research solved, but states it without a proof, and this corpus has built no proof of it.