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An antichain in the Boolean lattice has Lubell mass one if and only if it is a full rank level. Equality means every maximal chain in a Boolean lattice meets the family exactly once. Swapping two adjacent entries in the defining permutation then forces the family to contain every set obtained from one member by exchanging an included and an excluded element, hence every set of that rank.

Among $k$-Sperner subfamilies of $\mathcal{P}([n])$, the maximum cardinality is the sum of the $k$ largest binomial coefficients $\left(\genfrac{}{}{0ex}{}{n}{j}\right)$. The union of the corresponding levels attains the bound. For the upper bound, the Lubell mass is at most $k$, and assigning its available mass to the levels with largest binomial coefficients maximizes cardinality.

A $k$-Sperner family contains no inclusion chain of length $k+1$. Every maximal chain in a Boolean lattice therefore meets it in at most $k$ members, so its Lubell mass is at most $k$.

Choose a Uniformly random maximal chain in a Boolean lattice by taking a uniformly random permutation of $X$ and successively adjoining its elements. A fixed $r$-element set occurs on this maximal chain in a Boolean lattice with probability $r!(n-r)!/n!={\left(\genfrac{}{}{0ex}{}{n}{r}\right)}^{-1}$. Because an antichain meets every such chain in a partially ordered set at most once, linearity of expectation gives the LYM inequality:Here $L(\mathcal{A})$ is the Lubell mass.

For equality in the LYM inequality, the integer $|\mathcal{A}\cap \mathcal{C}|\le 1$ must equal one for every maximal chain in a Boolean lattice, since every chain has positive probability. Choose $A\in \mathcal{A}$ of rank $r$. If $0<r<n$, take $x\in A$ and $y\notin A$, and choose a permutation with its first $r$ elements equal to $A$, its $r$th element $x$, and its next element $y$. Interchanging those two adjacent elements changes precisely the rank-$r$ member of the corresponding maximal chain in a Boolean lattice, replacing $A$ by $A^{\prime }=A\setminus \{x\}\cup \{y\}$. All other members are unchanged and none belongs to the antichain. The new chain must still meet $\mathcal{A}$, so $A^{\prime }\in \mathcal{A}$.

Successive exchanges connect all $r$-element subsets: exchange an element outside a desired target for an element missing from it, decreasing the number of differences each time. Thus $\mathcal{A}$ contains the whole rank-$r$ level. Every set of another rank is comparable with some set in that level, so the antichain contains nothing else. If $r=0$ or $r=n$, its sole possible member is already the whole corresponding level. Conversely, every full level meets every maximal chain in a Boolean lattice exactly once. Hence

First we need all equality cases, rather than just the examples from part (c). The threshold estimate in part (b), with $t>0$, shows that any maximum-weight k-Sperner family has Lubell mass exactly $k$.

For each $A\in \mathcal{A}$, let $\ell (A)$ be the largest number of members in a strict chain in a partially ordered set within $\mathcal{A}$ ending at $A$. Its values lie in $\{1,\dots ,k\}$. If $A⊊B$ then $\ell (B)\ge \ell (A)+1$, so each height class ${\mathcal{A}}_j=\{A:\ell (A)=j\}$ is an antichain. Its Lubell mass is at most one by the LYM inequality, andConsequently every height class has Lubell mass one. By equality in the LYM inequality, each is a full rank level. Since the classes are disjoint, the maximizing family is a union of exactly $k$ distinct full levels.

Let $t$ again be the $k$th largest $u(i)$, let $h$ ranks have $u(i)>t$, and let $s$ ranks have $u(i)=t$. Equality in the threshold estimate requires all $h$ higher-weight levels, no lower-weight levels, and any $k-h$ of the $s$ tied levels. Thus the number of maximizing weighted k-Sperner families isConversely, every such $h,s$ is realizable. Assign $u(i)=2$ on $h$ chosen ranks, $u(i)=1$ on $s$ further ranks, and $u(i)=1/2$ on all remaining ranks, then set $w(i)=u(i)/\left(\genfrac{}{}{0ex}{}{n}{i}\right)$. These weights are positive and have exactly the stated tie pattern.

Putting $j=k-h$ gives a concise classification of the possible integers:Repeated values in this set are counted only once. The possible counts need not form an interval: for example, when $n=5,k=2$ they are $1,2,3,4,5,6,10,15$.

The hypothesis says exactly that $\mathcal{A}$ is a k-Sperner family with $k=2$: it contains no three members forming a strict inclusion chain. Every maximal chain in a Boolean lattice consequently contains at most two members of $\mathcal{A}$, so the same random-chain argument gives $\lambda (\mathcal{A})\le 2$. For a fixed amount of Lubell mass, cardinality is maximized by using the levels with the two largest binomial coefficients. The Erdős theorem on k-Sperner families therefore givesThe bound is attained by taking the union of two levels having those sizes.

For a uniform set family $\mathcal{A}\subseteq [n{]}^{(r)}$, the Local LYM inequality isTo prove it, count the incident pairs $(B,A)$ with $B\in \partial \mathcal{A}$, $A\in \mathcal{A}$, and $B\subset A$. Every $A$ contributes exactly $r$ pairs, whereas every $B$ belongs to at most $n-r+1$ members of $[n{]}^{(r)}$. Thereforewhich is the displayed inequality after using the binomial coefficient identity $r\left(\genfrac{}{}{0ex}{}{n}{r}\right)=(n-r+1)\left(\genfrac{}{}{0ex}{}{n}{r-1}\right)$.

The LYM inequality says that every antichain $\mathcal{A}\subseteq \mathcal{P}([n])$ satisfiesFor the proof from the local inequality, take the lowest occupied level below the middle and replace that level by its upper shadow. The result remains an antichain: any new containment involving a set in the upper shadow would already give a containment involving the member of $\mathcal{A}$ immediately below it. The dual form of the Local LYM inequality says that this replacement cannot decrease the Lubell mass. Repeating upward below the middle, and similarly replacing high levels by their lower shadows, eventually puts the whole family in one middle level. Its final Lubell mass is at most one, so the original mass is also at most one.

For the maximal chain in a Boolean lattice proof, choose a Uniformly random maximal chain in a Boolean lattice. An $h$-element set lies on it with probability $1/\left(\genfrac{}{}{0ex}{}{n}{h}\right)$. Because an antichain meets each chain at most once, the expected value of the number of its members on the chain is at most one. By linearity of expectation, that expected value is precisely the displayed sum.

The Sperner theorem follows because $\left(\genfrac{}{}{0ex}{}{n}{|A|}\right)\le \left(\genfrac{}{}{0ex}{}{n}{\lfloor n/2\rfloor }\right)$ for every $A$. If equality holds in the resulting cardinality bound, every member lies on a largest level. For even $n$ this is the unique middle level. For odd $n$, the two middle levels have equal size; the regular connected inclusion graph between them and equality in Local LYM inequality force a chosen portion of the lower level to be either empty or the whole level. Hence the maximum antichains are exactly the complete middle level, with either middle level allowed when $n$ is odd.

For real coefficients of absolute value at least one, an open interval of length four contains at most the sum of the two largest binomial coefficients of signed sums. The corresponding subset family has no three-element inclusion chain. Its Lubell mass is therefore at most two, giving the bound by allocating mass to the two largest levels. Unit coefficients attain it at a center midway between the two chosen sum levels.

For positive weights $w(i)$ depending only on rank, put $u_i=\left(\genfrac{}{}{0ex}{}{n}{i}\right)w(i)$. The largest weight of a k-Sperner family in $\mathcal{P}([n])$ is the sum of the $k$ largest $u_i$. Every maximizing family is a union of $k$ full rank levels. To see the equality assertion, its Lubell mass must be $k$; decomposing it into $k$ antichains by chain height and using equality in the LYM inequality forces each part to be a full level.