Uniform expectations require nonempty finite sets; assume this throughout the analytic argument. For real-valued functions on , define the box norm by
All four variables are sampled as independent random variables with replacement, so repeated coordinates are included. The defining fourth power equals
If it vanishes, every summand vanishes. In particular, the terms give for each , so . Absolute homogeneity of a norm follows directly: .
For the triangle inequality, prove the mixed box Cauchy-Schwarz inequality. Write
Separating the two averages and applying the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality in gives
Expanding the square and reversing the order of finite sums,
by a second Cauchy-Schwarz inequality. Thus . Expand into its sixteen multilinear terms and apply this bound to each term. Their upper bounds sum to . Taking fourth roots yields the triangle inequality. Together with definiteness of a norm and absolute homogeneity of a norm, this proves the box norm is a norm. Complex functions require conjugates and are outside the printed real-valued convention.
For the bilinear correlation bound for the box norm, use the normalized L2 norm: let and , . The Cauchy-Schwarz inequality in gives
The remaining factor is . By the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality in , its magnitude is at most
Taking square roots proves
For the tripartite graph, assume its parts are nonempty and write for its adjacency indicator functions. Let , so . The normalized triangle count is
The constant-degree hypothesis is exactly for each . Therefore the contribution of the constant is
For fixed , apply the bilinear correlation bound for the box norm with and . Since these are indicator functions, and , the fraction of adjacent to . Averaging and applying the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality in gives the sharper triangle counting with one box-uniform pair and constant opposite degree estimate
Multiplying by yields
The middle bound also handles or , when the triangle count is zero.
To connect explicitly with the suggested expansion, put , . Both have overall mean zero, and for every . Consequently ; all terms with constant reduce to . The terms containing combine into the single error just estimated. This is where the exact degree assumption is used. If any part is empty the triangle count itself is zero, but the printed uniform expectations and edge density of a bipartite graph values would be undefined; the nonempty-parts convention must therefore be stated rather than dividing by zero.
Triangle count 2026-10-05
The triangle count of a finite simple graph is the number of unordered triples of vertices inducing a triangle in a graph. In a tripartite graph with parts and adjacency indicator functions , it equals , using uniform expectations on nonempty parts.
Let a tripartite graph have nonempty parts , pair edge density of a bipartite graph values on , and . If every has exactly neighbors in , its normalized triangle count obeys
The constant-degree assumption makes the contribution of the constant exactly . For each fixed , apply the bilinear correlation bound for the box norm to the indicator functions of its two vertex neighbourhoods. Their squared norms are and the relative -degree of . Average over and use the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality to bound the mean square root of that degree by .