Lecture 1 Outline

o Definitions: set, element

o Terminology and notation
o Set equality, multi set set builder, intension, extension,
Venn Diagram (representation), empty set, singleton set,
subset, proper subset, finite vs infinite set, cardinality
o Proving set equivalence
o Power set
o Cartesian Product (a.k.a. Cross product)
o Set Operations (union, intersection, complement, difference),
Disjoint sets
o Relations and mappings
 Introduction (1)
o Definition: A set is an unordered collection of (unique)
objects
o The collection is treated as a single object, to which
mathematical operations may be applied
o The set of firms producing a particular good i.e the industry
for that good.
o The set of buyers and sellers of a good i.e the market for that
good.
o The set of quantities of goods and services that a consumer is
physically capable of consuming, usually called the
consumption set for the consumer.
o Production possibility of an economy
 Introduction (2)
• Definition: The objects in a set are called
elements or members of a set. A set is said to
contain its elements
• Notation, for a set A:
o x  A: x is an element of A
o x  A: x is not an element of A
 Terminology (1)

• Definition: Two sets, A and B, are equal if they

contain the same elements. We write A=B.
• Example:
o {2,3,5,7}={3,2,7,5}, because a set is unordered
o Also, {2,3,5,7}={2,2,3,5,3,7} because a set contains
unique elements
o However, {2,3,5,7} {2,3}
 Terminology (2)

• A multi-set is a set where you specify the number of

occurrences of each element: {m1a1,m2a2,…,mrar} is a
set where
o m1 occurs a1 times
o m2 occurs a2 times
o 
o mr occurs ar times
 Terminology (3)

• The set-builder notation

O={ x | (xZ)  (x=2k) for some kZ}
reads: O is the set that contains all x such that x is an
integer and x is even
• A set is defined in intension when you give its set-
builder notation
O={ x | (xZ)  (0x8)  (x=2k) for some k  Z }
• A set is defined in extension when you enumerate all
the elements:
O={0,2,4,6,8}
 Venn Diagram: Example

• A set can be represented graphically using a

Venn Diagram

U x y B
A
z

a
C
More Terminology and Notation (1)

• A set that has no elements is called the empty set or

null set and is denoted 
• A set that has one element is called a singleton set.
o For example: {a}, with brackets, is a singleton set
o a, without brackets, is an element of the set {a}
• Note the subtlety in   {}
o The left-hand side is the empty set
o The right hand-side is a singleton set, and a set containing
a set
More Terminology and Notation (2)

• Definition: A is said to be a subset of B, and

we write A  B, if and only if every element of
A is also an element of B
• That is, we have the equivalence:
A  B   x (x  A  x  B)
More Terminology and Notation (3)

• Theorem: For any set S

o   S and
oSS
• Your task: Prove the above two statements
More Terminology and Notation (4)

• Definition: A set A that is a subset of a set B is

called a proper subset if A  B.
• That is there is an element xB such that xA
• We write: A  B, A  B
More Terminology and Notation (5)

• Sets can be elements of other sets

• Examples
o S1 = {,{a},{b},{a,b},c}
o S2={{1},{2,4,8},{3},{6},4,5,6}
More Terminology and Notation (6)

• Definition: If there are exactly n distinct

elements in a set S, with n a nonnegative
integer, we say that:
o S is a finite set, and
o The cardinality of S is n. Notation: |S| = n.
• Definition: A set that is not finite is said to be
infinite
More Terminology and Notation (7)

• Examples
o Let B = {x | (x100)  (x is prime)}, the cardinality
of B is |B|=25 because there are 25 primes less
than or equal to 100.
o The cardinality of the empty set is ||=0
o The sets N, Z, Q, R are all infinite
 Proving Equivalence (1)

• You may be asked to show that a set is

o a subset of,
o proper subset of, or
o equal to another set.
• To prove that A is a subset of B, use the equivalence discussed
earlier A  B  x(xA  xB)
o To prove that A  B it is enough to show that for an arbitrary
(nonspecific) element x, xA implies that x is also in B.
o Any proof method can be used.
• To prove that A is a proper subset of B, you must prove
o A is a subset of B and
o x (xB)  (xA)
 Proving Equivalence (2)

• Finally to show that two sets are equal, it is sufficient

to show independently (much like a biconditional)
that
o A  B and
o BA
• Logically speaking, you must show the following
quantified statements:
(x (xA  xB))  (x (xB  xA))
 Power Set (1)

• Definition: The power set of a set S, denoted

P(S), is the set of all subsets of S.
• Examples
– Let A={a,b,c}, P(A)={,{a},{b},{c},{a,b},{b,c},{a,c},{a,b,c}}
– Let A={{a,b},c}, P(A)={,{{a,b}},{c},{{a,b},c}}
• Note: the empty set  and the set itself are
always elements of the power set.
 Power Set (2)

• The power set is a fundamental combinatorial

object useful when considering all possible
combinations of elements of a set
• Fact: Let S be a set such that |S|=n, then
|P(S)| = 2n
 Tuples (1)

• Sometimes we need to consider ordered

collections of objects
• Definition: The ordered n-tuple (a1,a2,…,an) is
the ordered collection with the element ai
being the i-th element for i=1,2,…,n
• Two ordered n-tuples (a1,a2,…,an) and
(b1,b2,…,bn) are equal iff for every i=1,2,…,n
we have ai=bi
• A 2-tuple (n=2) is called an ordered pair
 Cartesian Product (1)

• Definition: Let A and B be two sets. The Cartesian product of

A and B, denoted AxB, is the set of all ordered pairs (a,b)
where aA and bB
AxB = { (a,b) | (aA)  (b  B) }
• The Cartesian product is also known as the cross product
• Definition: A subset of a Cartesian product, R  AxB is called a
relation. We will talk more about relations in the next set of
slides
• Note: AxB  BxA unless A= or B= or A=B.
• Your task: Find a counter example to prove this.
 Cartesian Product (2)

• Cartesian Products can be generalized for any

n-tuple
• Definition: The Cartesian product of n sets,
A1,A2, …, An, denoted A1A2… An, is
A1A2… An ={ (a1,a2,…,an) | ai  Ai for i=1,2,…,n}
 Set Operations

• Arithmetic operators (+,-,  ,) can be used on

pairs of numbers to give us new numbers
• Similarly, set operators exist and act on two
sets to give us new sets
o Union
o Intersection
o Set difference
o Set complement
 Set Operators: Union

• Definition: The union of two sets A and B is

the set that contains all elements in A, B, r
both. We write:
AB = { x | (a  A)  (b  B) }

U
A B
 Set Operators: Intersection

• Definition: The intersection of two sets A and

B is the set that contains all elements that are
element of both A and B. We write:
A  B = { x | (a  A)  (b  B) }

U
A B
 Disjoint Sets

• Definition: Two sets are said to be disjoint if

their intersection is the empty set: A  B = 

U
A B
 Set Difference

• Definition: The difference of two sets A and B,

denoted A\B or A−B, is the set containing
those elements that are in A but not in B

U
A B
 Set Complement

• Definition: The complement of a set A,

denoted A , consists of all elements not in A.
That is the difference of the universal set and
set A denoted as U\A
A= AC = {x | x  A }

U A
A
Set Complement: Absolute & Relative

• Given the Universe U, and A,B  U.

• The (absolute) complement of A is A=U\A
• The (relative) complement of A in B is B\A

U U
A A B
A
Relations and Mappings of
sets
A relation is a set of ordered pairs.

The domain is the set of all x values in the relation

domain = {-1,0,2,4,9}
These are the x values written in a set from smallest to largest

This is a
{(2,3), (-1,0), (4,5), (9,9), (0,1)} relation

These are the y values written in a set from smallest to largest

range = {1,5,3,0,10}

The range is the set of all y values in the relation

 A relation assigns the x’s with y’s

1
2
2
4
3
6
4 8
5 10

Domain (set of all x’s) Range (set of all y’s)

This relation can be written {(1,6), (2,2), (3,4), (4,8), (5,10)}

A function f from set A to set B is a rule of correspondence
that assigns to each element x in the set A exactly one
element y in the set B.

1
2
2
4
3
6
4 8
5 10

Set A is the domain Set B is the range

Must use all the x’s

This is a function
---it meets our
conditions The x value can only be assigned to one y
 Let’s look at another relation and decide if it is a function.
The second condition says each x can have only one y, but it CAN
be the same y as another x gets assigned to.

1
2
2
4
3
6
4 8
5 10

Set A is the domain Set B is the range

This is a function
---it meets our Must use all the x’s
conditions
The x value can only be assigned to one y
A good example that you can “relate” to is students in our
maths class this semester are set A. The grade they earn out
of the class is set B. Each student must be assigned a grade
and can only be assigned ONE grade, but more than one
student can get the same grade (we hope so---we want lots of
A’s). The example shown on the previous screen had each
student getting the same grade. That’s okay.

1
2
2
4
3
6
4 8
5 10

2 was assigned both 4 and 10

Is the relation shown above a function? NO Why not???
Check this relation out to determine if it is a function.
It is not---3 didn’t get assigned to anything
Comparing to our example, a student in maths must receive a grade

1
2
2
4
3
6
4 8
5 10

Set A is the domain Set B is the range

This is not a Must use all the x’s

function---it
doesn’t assign The x value can only be assigned to one y
each x with a y
Check this relation out to determine if it is a function.
This is fine—each student gets only one grade. More than one can
get an A and I don’t have to give any D’s (so all y’s don’t need to be
used).
1
2
2
4
3
6
4 8
5 10

Set A is the domain Set B is the range

Must use all the x’s

This is a function
The x value can only be assigned to one y
end