Take the initial removed set to be empty, as required by the displayed equality in this discrete SIR epidemic on a graph. If initially removed individuals are allowed, add their indicators to the final-removal count; an isolated initially removed vertex already shows why this correction is necessary. Condition on a fixed initial infection vector.
Given the history through time , the union bound over currently infected neighbours gives
Write . Taking expectations and iterating this componentwise inequality for the nonnegative adjacency matrix of a graph gives .
A vertex is infected at most once, and an infection lasts exactly one step before permanent removal. Hence under the stated initial convention. The Tonelli theorem now gives
The walk count from powers of an adjacency matrix explains the terms: all possible transmission walks are counted, including walks that overcount because removal prevents reinfection. This is the adjacency-matrix bound for a discrete SIR epidemic.
When , summing the adjacency-matrix bound for a discrete SIR epidemic gives the displayed Neumann series bound on the expected total infected count . For an undirected graph, the adjacency matrix of a graph is a symmetric matrix, so its Euclidean operator norm equals its spectral radius. The Cauchy-Schwarz inequality then yields for initially infected vertices.