Overestimates and underestimates in Inclusion-Exclusion principle

combinatoricsinclusion-exclusion

In the celebrated Inclusion-Exclusion principle,
$$|\cup A_i|=\sum _i |A_i|-\sum _{i<j} |A_i \cap A_j|+\sum _{i<j<k}|A_i \cap A_j \cap A_k|-\dots +(-1)^{n+1}|\cap A_i|$$

if we take only $m \leq n$ items of the right side, then we would get an overestimate if $m$ is odd, and we obtain an underestimate if $m$ is even, for instance,
$$|\cup A_i|\leq \sum _i |A_i|$$
and
$$|\cup A_i|\geq \sum _i |A_i|-\sum _{i<j} |A_i \cap A_j|.$$
I want an "elementary" proof for this fact which does not use probability or any measure theory. I tried induction, for the second inequality but could not get anything. I would be thankful for the answer or any leading comment in this connection.
Thanks in advance!

Best Answer

It is enough to prove the inequalities of indicators $$1_{A} \leq \sum_{i}1_{A_i},$$ $$1_{A} \geq \sum_{i}1_{A_i} - \sum_{i < j}1_{A_i \cap A_j},$$ $$1_{A} \leq \sum_{i}1_{A_i} - \sum_{i < j}1_{A_i \cap A_j} + \sum_{i < j < k}1_{A_i \cap A_j \cap A_k},$$ etc. Because if these inequalities are shown, then evaluating and summing them over all $\omega \in A_1 \cup \dots \cup A_n$ finishes the proof.

So suppose $\omega \in A_1 \cup \dots \cup A_n$ is arbitray. So $\omega$ is in $k \geq 1$ of the sets. Then for odd $m$, we want to show that $$1 \leq k - \binom{k}{2} + \binom{k}{3} - \dots \pm \binom{k}{m},$$ and for even $m$ we want to show the reverse inequality. So we want to show that $$\sum_{i = 0}^{m}(-1)^i\binom{k}{i} \leq 0$$ for odd $m$, and the reverse inequality for even $m$. But this follows from the formula $$\sum_{i = 0}^{m}(-1)^i\binom{k}{i} = (-1)^m\binom{k - 1}{m}.$$

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