Let
denote the downset-lattice of the downset-lattice
of the finite poset
Q and let
d2(
Q) denote the cardinality of
.
We investigate relations between the numbers
d2(
Am +
Q) and
their powers, where
Am is the antichain with
m elements and
Am
+
Q the direct sum of
Am and
Q. In particular, we prove the
inequality
d2(
Q)
3 <
d2(
A1 +
Q)
2 based on the construction of a
one-to-one mapping between sets of homomorphisms. Furthermore, we
derive equations and inequalities between the numbers
d2(
Am +
Q) and
exponential sums of downset sizes and interval sizes related to
.
We apply these results in a comparison of the computational
times of algorithms for the calculation of the Dedekind numbers
d2(
Am), including a new algorithm.
Received January 20 2018; revised versions received May 1 2018; May 2 2018.
Published in Journal of Integer Sequences, May 8 2018. Corrigendum,
October 26 2020.