In combinatorics, a branch of mathematics, the inclusion–exclusion principle is a counting technique which generalizes the familiar method of obtaining the number of elements in the union of two finite sets; symbolically expressed as The inclusion-exclusion principle, being a generalization of the two-set case, is perhaps more clearly seen in the case of three sets, which for the sets A, B and C is given by Generalizing the results of these examples gives the principle of inclusion–exclusion. To find the cardinality of the union of n sets: