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Laws of Set Theory

The document defines common set operations like union, intersection, difference, and complement. It describes laws of set theory that parallel the laws of logic, such as commutative, associative, distributive, DeMorgan's laws, identity, idempotence, and dominance laws. It notes that proofs of logical equivalences can translate directly to proofs of equalities between sets.

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Suraj kumar Gupta
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91 views

Laws of Set Theory

The document defines common set operations like union, intersection, difference, and complement. It describes laws of set theory that parallel the laws of logic, such as commutative, associative, distributive, DeMorgan's laws, identity, idempotence, and dominance laws. It notes that proofs of logical equivalences can translate directly to proofs of equalities between sets.

Uploaded by

Suraj kumar Gupta
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Set Operations and the Laws of Set Theory

• The union of sets A and B is the set A ∪ B = {x : x ∈ A ∨ x ∈ B}.

• The intersection of sets A and B is the set A ∩ B = {x : x ∈ A ∧ x ∈ B}.

• The set difference of A and B is the set A \ B = {x : x ∈ A ∧ x 6∈ B}.


Alternate notation: A − B.

• The symmetric difference of A and B is A ⊕ B = (A \ B) ∪ (B \ A).


Note: A ⊕ B = {x : (x ∈ A ∧ x 6∈ B) ∨ (x ∈ B ∧ x 6∈ A)}.

The universe, U, is the collection of all objects that can occur as elements of the sets under
consideration.

• The complement of A is Ac = U \ A = {x : x 6∈ A}.

For each Law of Logic, there is a corresponding Law of Set Theory.

• Commutative: A ∪ B = B ∪ A, A ∩ B = B ∩ A.

• Associative: A ∪ (B ∪ C) = (A ∪ B) ∪ C, A ∩ (B ∩ C) = (A ∩ B) ∩ C

• Distributive: A ∪ (B ∩ C) = (A ∪ B) ∩ (A ∪ C), A ∩ (B ∪ C) = (A ∩ B) ∪ (A ∩ C)
and also on the right: (B ∩ C) ∪ A = (B ∪ A) ∩ (C ∪ A), (B ∪ C) ∩ A = (B ∩ A) ∪ (C ∩ A)

• Double Complement: (Ac )c = A

• DeMorgan’s Laws: (A ∪ B)c = Ac ∩ B c , (A ∩ B)c = Ac ∪ B c

• Identity: ∅ ∪ A = A, U ∩A=A

• Idempotence: A ∪ A = A, A∩A=A

• Dominance: A ∪ U = U, A∩∅=∅

Arguments that prove logical equivalences can be directly translated into arguments that prove set
equalities.

Set equalities of note:

• A \ B = A ∩ Bc

• A ⊕ B = (A ∪ B) \ (A ∩ B)

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