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Let $M$ be a generic $2n\times 2n$ matrix and fix $k\leq n$.

Suppose $\mathcal{F}$ is a family of submatrices under the conditions that $A\in\mathcal{F}$ provided

(a) $A$ is a $k\times k$ submatrix of $M$, and

(b) $A$ overlaps with each and every $B\in\mathcal{F}$.

QUESTION. What is the best upper bound for the cardinality of $\mathcal{F}$, in terms of $n$ and $k$?

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1 Answer 1

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To each such matrix $A$ we can associate $A_1,A_2$, the sets of column indices and row indices respectively. The families $\mathcal F_i=\{A_i| A\in \mathcal F\}$ are intersecting families of subsets, therefore by Erdos-Ko-Rado we have $$|\mathcal F_i|\le \binom{2n-1}{k-1}$$ Since a matrix $A$ is uniquely determined by its set of rows and columns we have $$|\mathcal F|\le |\mathcal F_1||\mathcal F_2|\le \binom{2n-1}{k-1}^2$$ and this maximum can be achieved by taking all the $k\times k$ submatrices that contain the $(1,1)$ entry.

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