Set theory: Calculating intersection of 3 sets without underlying data

980 Views Asked by At

Editing since this seems to be unclear: I ONLY have the data listed below. I do not have any information on the underlying elements. For example, I know A&B = 14, but I don't know which 14 elements match, or the values of those 14 elements.

I am trying to determine if the following is possible.

You have 3 sets A, B, C

You have the Size of A, Size of B, and Size of C.

You also have the intersect of A&B, intersect of A&C, and the intersect of B&C.

Is it possible to determine the intersect A&B&C?

Example:

size A = 25

size B = 30

size C = 22

A&B = 14

A&C = 10

B&C = 9

What is A&B&C?

Also, if this is possible, can it also be done on greater number of sets. For example, A,B,C,D given you have all intersect pairs?

Side note: I have been able to prove the following, but haven't been able to apply it to >2 sets.

Size A = 10

Size B = 20

AUB = 25

A&B = (size A + size B) - AUB

1

There are 1 best solutions below

0
On BEST ANSWER

No. Consider the following examples:

$A = \{1,2\}$, $B = \{2,3\}$, $C = \{1,3\}$.

$A = \{1,2\}$, $B = \{1,3\}$, $C = \{1,4\}$.

In each, $|A| = |B| = |C| = 2$ and $|A\cap B| = |B\cap C| = |A\cap C| = 1$. But in the first example, $|A\cap B\cap C| = 0$, while in the second example, $|A\cap B\cap C| = 1$.