For any subset $S\subseteq\{1,2,\ldots,15\}$, call a number $n$ an anchor for $S$ if $n$ and $n+ |S|$ are both elements of $S$. For example, $4$ is an anchor of the set $S=\{4,7,14\}$, since $4\in S$ and $4+ |S| = 4+3 = 7\in S$.
Given that $S$ is randomly chosen from all $2^{15}$ subsets of $\{1,2,\ldots,15\}$ (with each subset being equally likely), what is the expected value of the number of anchors of $S$?
Write $T=\{1,\ldots,15\}$. Note that a set with fewer than $2$ elements cannot have an anchor. The expected value is $A/2^{15}$, where $$\eqalign{A &=\sum_{S\subseteq T}(\hbox{number of anchors of $S$})\cr &=\sum_{S\subseteq T}\sum_{n\in S}\cases{1&if $n$ anchors $S$\cr 0&otherwise\cr} \cr &=\sum_{S\subseteq T}\sum_{n\in S}\sum_{k=2}^{15} \cases{1&if $|S|=k$, $n+k\in S$\cr 0&otherwise\cr}\cr &=\sum_{n=1}^{15}\sum_{k=2}^{15}\sum_{S\subseteq T} \cases{1&if $|S|=k$, $n\in S$, $n+k\in S$\cr 0&otherwise\cr}\cr &=\sum_{n=1}^{15}\sum_{k=2}^{15} \cases{0&if $k>15-n$\cr C(13,k-2)&otherwise.\cr}\cr }$$ Reason for the last step: if $n+k>15$ there is no $S$ containing $n+k$, otherwise $S$ has $k$ elements of which two are already specified. Continuing, $$\eqalign{A &=\sum_{k=2}^{15}\sum_{n=1}^{15} \cases{0&if $k>15-n$\cr C(13,k-2)&otherwise\cr}\cr &=\sum_{k=2}^{15} (15-k)C(13,k-2)\cr &=\sum_{j=0}^{13} jC(13,j) }$$ and this is a standard binomial sum, $$A=\sum_{j=1}^{13} 13C(12,j-1)=13\sum_{j=0}^{12}C(12,j)=13\times2^{12}\ .$$