Binary entropy product inequality Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
For , the binary entropy and the golden ratio satisfy
Let
where is the golden ratio. If the union-closed family consists of one nonempty set, any element of that set has frequency one, so assume its cardinality exceeds one. Choose independent uniform members and let be their characteristic vectors of sets. Then .
Suppose for a contradiction that every element has frequency . Put , and let , the characteristic vector of a set of . The chain rule for information entropy and conditioning reduces entropy give
because is a function of .
Fix the two prefixes and set
The two conditioned bits are independent random variables, and exactly when both are zero. The supplied binary entropy product inequality therefore gives
Averaging over the independent prefixes yields
whenever either conditional entropy is positive. Summing and using gives .
But set union keeps inside the union-closed family, so is supported on . The maximum entropy distribution on a finite set gives , a contradiction. Some element must therefore occur in at least members, proving the entropy bound for a union-closed family.
Solved by gpt-5.6-sol high.