PREFACE:
This question is about a proper algorithm and its implementation. I will explain the problem as detailed as possible and will give my current algorithm as well as two more possible solutions which are far better suited for this task. Unfortunately I have no idea on how to implement either of the latter ones. Therefore any help in that direction is appreciated.
INPUT:
1) The input are k lists $L_i$. Every of this k lists contains a sublists.
E.g.: $k=2$, $a=3$
$$L_1=\{l_{11},l_{12},l_{13}\} \\ L_2=\{l_{21},l_{22},l_{23}\}$$
1.a) Every sublist $l_{ij}$ contains $m_{ij}$ sublists $b_{ij,k=1\dots,m_{i,j}}$ of length $j$.
1.b) The first element in every sub-sub-list $b_{ijk}$ of list $L_i$ is equal. ALL other elements of ALL lists are unequal.
Example: $k=2$, $a=3$ (explicit)
$$ L_1=\{\{\{1\}\},\{\{1,2\},\{1,3\}\},\{\{1,4,5\},\{1,6,7\},\{1,8,9\}\}\} \\ \ \ \ L_2=\{\{\{10\}\},\{\{10,11\},\{10,12\},,\{10,13\}\},\{\{10,14,15\}\}\}$$
TASK:
Find all sets of length k containing elements of the lists $L_i$ which have the following properties:
I.) No doubled elements: No set contains more than one element from every list $L_i$.
E.g.: Possible sets created from $L_1$ and $L_2$ given above:
$$ \{\{1\},\{10,12\}\}: \ \textit{ok} \\ \ \ \quad \{\{1\},\{1,6,7\}\}: \ \textit{not ok}$$
II.) The total number of elements in the union of each of this sets is $\leq a+k$.
E.g.: $k=2$, $a=3$ $$ \ \ \quad \{\{1\},\{10,12\}\}\to ||\{1\}\cup \{10,12\}||<5: \ \textit{ok} \\ \{\{1,6,7\},\{10,14,15\}\}\to ||\{1\}\cup \{10,12\}||>5: \ \textit{not ok} $$
Current algorithm:
Currently I create all possible subsets of length $k$ from the lists $L_i$ and apply the conditions afterwards. That is ``okayish'' for small $k$ and $a$ but problematic for larger values, due to the (unnecessary) combinatorics.
(*minimal example *)
k = 2;
a = 3;
L1 = {{{1}}, {{1, 2}, {1, 3}}, {{1, 4, 5}, {1, 6, 7}, {1, 8, 9}}};
L2 = {{{10}}, {{10, 11}, {10, 12}}, {{10, 14, 15}}};
(* create all subsets and apply conditions afterwards <-> combinatorics :( *)
Lall = Flatten[Union[L1, L2], 1];
Lall = Subsets[Lall, {k}];
linter = Length[Lall] (* intermediate length blows up due to combinatorics *)
(* No doubled elements -> delete them *)
Do[If[Length[Union @@ Lall[[i]]] <
Sum[Length[Lall[[i,j]]], {j, 1, k}], Lall[[i]] = {}; ], {i, 1, Length[Lall]}]
Lall = Lall /. {} -> Nothing;
linter2 = Length[Lall] (* second intermediate length: way shorter (corresponds to ``Problem 1.a)'' *)
(* total number of elements in the union of every subset has to be <a+k *)
Do[If[Length[Flatten[Lall[[i]]]] > a + k, Lall[[i]] = {}; ], {i, 1, Length[Lall]}]
Lall = Lall /. {} -> Nothing;
lresult = Length[Lall]
PROBLEM: The unnecessary combinatorial overhead.
1.a) Here any help is appreciated.
I would save a lot of the overhead if I take a similar approach but restrict the creation of the subsets ( see linter to linter2 in the code) by creating them according to:
subsets = {};
Do[subsets = Append[subsets, Subsets[Join[L1[[l]], Flatten[L2, 1]], {k}]], {l, 1, Length[L1]}]
subsets = Flatten[subsets, 1]
and applying condition II.) afterwards. Unfortunately it is not clear to me, how that approach can be implemented for an arbitrary number of lists k.
1.b) Elegant but probably overly hard to implement.
The complete problem could be solved without overhead by recognizing that the proper way of building the subsets is given by all permutations of the integer partitions $j\leq a+k$ of length $k$. Then one gets for the example:
s = {};
Do[s = Append[s, IntegerPartitions[l, {k}]], {l, k, a + k}]
s = Flatten[Permutations /@ Flatten[s, 1], 1]
Which yields:
{{1, 1}, {2, 1}, {1, 2}, {3, 1}, {1, 3}, {2, 2}, {4, 1}, {1, 4}, {3, 2}, {2, 3}}
and therefore exactly the indices $i,j$ of $l_{1,i}$ and $l_{2,j}$ from which all possible subsets fulfill condition I.) and II.). But I guess implementing that is far from trivial and I have no idea on how to attempt it for general k.
To everybody who made it until here: Many thanks, Armin!
Tuples[Union @@@ {L1, L2}]to go directly to "linter2" (up to sorting). $\endgroup$