Chapter 2

1 Sets
• Definition 1: A set is an unordered collection of objects
A = {1,2 ,4 ,7}, B = {A, G, Y}, …

• Definition 2: The object in a set are also called the elements or members

• Definition 3:
Universal Sets:
N = {0,1,2,3 ...} the set of natural numbers
Z= {... , -2 , -1 , 0 , 1 ,2 , ...} the set of integers.
Z+ = {1, 2 ,3 ...} the set of positive integers
Q = {p/q , where pZ, qZ , q  0} set of rational numbers
R, the set of real numbers

• Definition 4: Two sets are equal if and only if they have the same distinct elements.
Ex: { 1,3,5} and { 5, 1,3} are equal .
{5,1,3} and {5,5,5,5,1,1,3,3} are equal

• Definition 5: Empty Set (Null set) is a set with no elements. Ex: { }, 

• Definition 6: Singleton set is the set with one element. Ex: {}, {1}, {A}, {{1,2,3}}
• Definition 7: Finite set is the set with limited number of elements. Ex: A= {1,2,3…100}, {1,2,3}
Infinite set is the set with unlimited number of elements. Ex: Integers set: Z
• Definition 8: Set cardinality ( |S| ) is the number of distinct elements in a set.
Ex: 1. S= {1, 2, 3, -5 ,0}, then |S| = 5
2. || = 0
3. |{1,2,3}| = 3
4. |{{1,2,3}}| = 1
5. |{}| = 1
❖ Set can be described by:

A. Listing all of it’s members (Roster’s Notation)

Ex: describe the set of positive odd numbers less than 10. Universe: Z
O = {1, 3, 5, 7, 9}
1  O : True
2 O : False
2 O : True

B. Set Builder Notation

Ex: describe the above set of odd numbers less than 10 using set builder notation.

O = { x | x is an odd positive number less than 10}

In more precise way → O = { x | 10>x > 0  x = 2 k +1 , where k is an integer}
1  O : True since 1>0  1 =20 + 1 → T  T → T
2 O : False since 2>0  2 ≠ 2K + 1 → T  F → F

C. Venn diagram

Definition: universal set U is the set that contains all objects under consideration.

Ex1: describe the above set of odd numbers less than 10 using Venn Diagram. U: Z
O = {1, 3, 5, 7, 9}

U: Z

O 1 3
0 -1 10 100 11
5 7
9

Ex2: V = describes the set of Vowels using Venn diagram.

V = {a, e, o, u, i}
V = { x / x is a vowel letter}

U: English Letters
a e
V b d f
o u
i
❖ Subsets ( A  B)

• The set A is a subset of the set B if and only if every element of A is also an element of B. ( A  B)
• ( A  B) is true, if and only if the quantification x( xA → xB) is true

• Theorem: for any set S

* (  S) : { } is a subset of any set.
* ( S  S) : any set is a subset of itself.

• If ( A  B) is true and ( B  A) is true, then A = B. x( xA  xB) is true

❖ Proper subset (A  B)

• The set A is a proper subset of the set B if and only if every element of A is also an element of B, but
A  B. ( A  B)
• ( A  B) is true, if and only if the quantification x( (xA → xB) ˄ A  B) is true

Ex: S= { , 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, {1} }
|S|=7
1S 6S {1}  S {1}  S
SS SS S S
{}  S {1}  S {{1}}  S {1,2,3}  S
  {{1}}  {{1}} {1,2,3}  S

❖ Power set P(S)

• Given a set S, the power set of S is the set of all subsets of the set S. the power set is denoted by P(S)

Ex: what is the power set of the set S = {0, 1, 2}

P(S)= {  , { 0 , 1, 2} , {0} , {1 } , {2 } , {0,1} , {0,2} ,{1 ,2} }

Ex: P({}) = {  , {}} , P({1}) = {  , {1}} , | P({1}) |= 2

P() = {,}={} , | P() |= 1

• If a set has n elements, then its power set has 2n elements.

Ex: S = {0, 1, 2} then number of subsets is 23 = 8 subsets

❖ Cartesian Products
• A  B = { (a, b) | a  A  b  B} it is the set of all ordered pair from A to B.
Ex: Let A = {1, 2} B= {a, b, c}
A  B = { (1,a), (1,b) ,(1,c) , (2,a), (2,b) ,(2,c)}
B  A = { (a,1), (a,2), (b,1), (b,2), (c,1), (c,2)}
• A  B  B  A iff A ≠ B
• A=
• Relation from the set A to the set B is a subset from A  B
• | A  B | = |A| x |B|

2 Set Operations
1. Union (A  B): { x| x A  xB}

2. Intersection ( A  B): { x| x A  xB}

3. Difference ( A – B) : { x| x A  xB}

4. Complement A : { x| xU  x A }

5. Symmetric Difference (A Δ B) = A-B  B-A

: { x | x  A  B  x  A  B}

Example:

A = {3, 4, 5} B={1, 2, 3} U={1, 2, 3, … , 10}

A  B = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}

A  B = {3}
A – B = {4, 5}

B – A = {1, 2}

__
A = { 1, 2, 6,7, 8, 9, 10}

__
B = { 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10}
A Δ B = {1, 2, 4, 5}

Definitions:

a. A and B are disjoint if and only if A  B = 

Example : A={x | x is an even number  Z}
B={ x | x is an odd number  Z}
AB=

b. | A  B| = |A| + |B| - | A  B|
Example:
A = {3, 4, 5} B={1, 2, 3} A  B = { 1, 2, 3,4, 5} A  B = {3}
|AB|=3+3–1=5

c. | A  B C| = |A| + |B| + |C| - | A  B|- | A  C|- | B  C|- | A  B C |

* Computer representation of sets
U = {1, 2 ,3 ,4 ,5 ,6 ,7 ,8 , 9, 10} What is the bit string that represents the set S of odd integers in U?

Sol:
U: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
S: 1 3 5 7 9

1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0

Union and intersection

Let A=1 010 1010 1 0 & B = 1 1 1 0 1 01 0 1 1
1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0  1 1 1 0 1 01 0 1 1 = 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 = A  B
1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0  1 1 1 0 1 01 0 1 1 = 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 = A  B
1 1 1 0 1 01 0 1 1  (1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0)
1 1 1 0 1 01 0 1 1  0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 = 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 = B – A
(1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0) = 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 = A
* Proving techniques
A. Set identities
Equivalence rule Name
AA Identity
AUA
A Domination
AUU
AA A Idempotent
AAA
( A )=A Complementation
law
A B  B A Commutative
A B  B A
(A  B)  C  A  ( B  C) Associative
(A  B)  C  A  ( B  C)
A  (B  C)  (A  B)  (A  C) Distributive
A  (B  C)  (A  B)  (A  C)
̅̅̅̅̅̅
AB = A ̅B
̅ Demorgan’s
AB ̅B
̅̅̅̅̅̅ = A ̅

A  (A  B)  A Absorption
A  (A  B)  A

A A  Complement law
A  A U

Ex: prove that A (BC)  (C B)  A using set identities:

A  (B  C)  A  (B C)

 (B C)  A

 (C B)  A
B. Set builder notation
Ex: use set builder notation and logical equivalence to show that

AB AB

Sol:
A B  { x| x A  B}
 { x| (x A  B)}
= { x| (x A  xB)}
= { x| x A  xB}

= { x| x A  xB}

= { x| x (A B)} = (A  B )

C. Membership table
Ex: prove that A  (B  C)  (A  B)  (A  C) for all sets A, B, and C
Any element x in the domain has 2 possibilities:
x  the set → 1
x  the set → 0

A B C BC A  (B  C) A B A C (A  B)  (A  C)
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0
0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0
0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1
1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

D. Venn Diagrams
B  (A  C)  (B  A)  (B  C)