Inclusion-Exclusion (Subtraction) Principle

The Inclusion-Exclusion Principle helps count elements correctly when sets overlap.

For two sets the following is always true, \( |A \cup B| = |A| + |B| - |A \cap B| \).

Examples:

We subtract the overlap because it was counted twice.

With three or more sets, more complicated versions of Inclusion-Exclusion are used.