… and now for something

completely different…

Set Theory
Actually, you will see that logic and
set theory are very closely related.

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 Set Theory
• Set: Collection of objects (called elements)
• a∈A “a is an element of A”
“a is a member of A”
• a∉A “a is not an element of A”
• A = {a1, a2, …, an} “A contains a1, …, an”
• Order of elements is insignificant
• It does not matter how often the same
element is listed (repetition doesn’t count).

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 Set Equality
Sets A and B are equal if and only if they
contain exactly the same elements.
Examples:
• A = {9, 2, 7, -3}, B = {7, 9, -3, 2} : A=B
• A = {dog, cat, horse},
B = {cat, horse, squirrel, dog} : A≠B
• A = {dog, cat, horse},
B = {cat, horse, dog, dog} : A=B

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 Examples for Sets

“Standard” Sets:
• Natural numbers N = {0, 1, 2, 3, …}
• Integers Z = {…, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, …}
• Positive Integers Z+ = {1, 2, 3, 4, …}
• Real Numbers R = {47.3, -12, π, …}
• Rational Numbers Q = {1.5, 2.6, -3.8, 15, …}
(correct definitions will follow)

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 Examples for Sets
• A=∅ “empty set/null set”
• A = {z} Note: z∈A, but z ≠ {z}
• A = {{b, c}, {c, x, d}} set of sets
• A = {{x, y}} Note: {x, y} ∈A, but {x, y} ≠ {{x, y}}
• A = {x | P(x)} “set of all x such that P(x)”
P(x) is the membership function of set A
∀x (P(x) → x∈A)
• A = {x | x∈ N ∧ x > 7} = {8, 9, 10, …}
“set builder notation”

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 Examples for Sets
We are now able to define the set of rational
numbers Q:
Q = {a/b | a∈Z ∧ b∈Z+}, or
Q = {a/b | a∈Z ∧ b∈Z ∧ b≠0}

And how about the set of real numbers R?

R = {r | r is a real number}
That is the best we can do. It can neither be
defined by enumeration nor builder function.

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 Subsets
A⊆B “A is a subset of B”
A ⊆ B if and only if every element of A is also
an element of B.
We can completely formalize this:
A ⊆ B ⇔ ∀x (x∈A →x∈B)

Examples:
A = {3, 9}, B = {5, 9, 1, 3}, A ⊆ B ? true
A = {3, 3, 3, 9}, B = {5, 9, 1, 3}, A ⊆ B true
?
A = {1, 2, 3}, B = {2, 3, 4}, A⊆B false
? 7
 Subsets
Useful rules:
• A = B ⇔ (A ⊆ B) ∧ (B ⊆A)
• (A ⊆ B) ∧(B ⊆ C) ⇒ A ⊆ C (see Venn
Diagram)
U

B
A C

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 Subsets
Useful rules:
• ∅ ⊆ A for any set A
(but ∅ ∈ A may not hold for any set A)
• A ⊆ A for any set A

Proper subsets:
A ⊂ B “A is a proper subset of B”
A ⊂ B ⇔ ∀x (x∈A → x∈B) ∧ ∃x (x∈B ∧
x∉A)
or
A ⊂ B ⇔ ∀x (x∈A → x∈B) ∧ ¬∀x (x∈B
→x∈A) 9
 Cardinality of Sets
If a set S contains n distinct elements, n∈N,
we call S a finite set with cardinality n.

Examples:
A = {Mercedes, BMW, Porsche}, |A| = 3
B = {1, {2, 3}, {4, 5}, 6} |B| = 4
C=∅ |C| = 0
D = { x∈N | x ≤ 7000 } |D| = 7001
E = { x∈N | x ≥ 7000 } E is infinite!

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 The Power Set
P(A) “power set of A” (also written as 2A)
P(A) = {B | B ⊆ A} (contains all subsets of A)

Examples:
A = {x, y, z}
P(A) = {∅, {x}, {y}, {z}, {x, y}, {x, z}, {y, z}, {x, y, z}}

A=∅
P(A) = {∅}
Note: |A| = 0, |P(A)| = 1

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 The Power Set
Cardinality of power sets: | P(A) | = 2|A|
• Imagine each element in A has an “on/off” switch
• Each possible switch configuration in A
corresponds to one subset of A, thus one element
in P(A)
A 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
x x x x x x x x x
y y y y y y y y y
z z z z z z z z z
• For 3 elements in A, there are
2×2×2 = 8 elements in P(A)
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 Cartesian Product
The ordered n-tuple (a1, a2, a3, …, an) is an
ordered collection of n objects.
Two ordered n-tuples (a1, a2, a3, …, an) and
(b1, b2, b3, …, bn) are equal if and only if they
contain exactly the same elements in the same
order, i.e. ai = bi for 1 ≤ i ≤ n.

The Cartesian product of two sets is defined as:

A×B = {(a, b) | a∈A ∧ b∈B}

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 Cartesian Product
Example:
A = {good, bad}, B = {student, prof}
A×B = {
(good, student), (good, prof), (bad, student), (bad, prof) }
B×A = { (student, good), (prof, good), (student, bad), (prof, bad)}

Example: A = {x, y}, B = {a, b, c}

A×B = {(x, a), (x, b), (x, c), (y, a), (y, b), (y, c)}

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 Cartesian Product
Note that:
• A×∅ = ∅
• ∅×A = ∅
• For non-empty sets A and B: A≠B ⇔ A×B ≠ B×A
• |A×B| = |A|⋅|B|

The Cartesian product of two or more sets is

defined as:
A1×A2×…×An = {(a1, a2, …, an) | ai∈Ai for 1 ≤ i ≤ n}

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 Set Operations

Union: A∪B = {x | x∈A ∨ x∈B}

Example: A = {a, b}, B = {b, c, d}

A∪B = {a, b, c, d}

Intersection: A∩B = {x | x∈A ∧ x∈B}

Example: A = {a, b}, B = {b, c, d}

A∩B = {b}
Cardinality: |A∪B| = |A| + |B| - |A∩B|

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 Set Operations
Two sets are called disjoint if their intersection
is empty, that is, they share no elements:
A∩B = ∅

The difference between two sets A and B

contains exactly those elements of A that are
not in B:
A-B = {x | x∈A ∧ x∉B}
Example: A = {a, b}, B = {b, c, d}, A-B = {a}
Cardinality: |A-B| = |A| - |A∩B|

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 Set Operations
The complement of a set A contains exactly
those elements under consideration that are not
in A: denoted Ac (or as in the text)
Ac = U-A

Example: U = N, B = {250, 251, 252, …}

Bc = {0, 1, 2, …, 248, 249}

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 Logical Equivalence
Equivalence laws
– Identity laws, P ∧ T ≡ P,
– Domination laws, P ∧ F ≡ F,
– Idempotent laws, P ∧ P ≡ P,
– Double negation law, ¬ (¬ P) ≡ P
– Commutative laws, P ∧ Q ≡ Q ∧ P,
– Associative laws, P ∧ (Q ∧ R)≡ (P ∧ Q) ∧ R,
– Distributive laws, P ∧ (Q ∨ R)≡ (P ∧ Q) ∨ (P ∧ R),
– De Morgan’s laws, ¬ (P∧Q) ≡ (¬ P) ∨ (¬ Q)
– Law with implication P → Q ≡ ¬ P ∨ Q

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 Set Identity
Table 1 in Section 1.7 shows many useful equations
– Identity laws, A∪∅ = A, A∩U = A
– Domination laws, A∪U = U, A∩∅ = ∅
– Idempotent laws, A∪A = A, A∩A = A
– Complementation law, (Ac)c = A
– Commutative laws, A∪B = B∪A, A∩B = B∩A
– Associative laws, A∪(B ∪ C) = (A∪B)∪C, …
– Distributive laws, A∪(B∩C) = (A∪B)∩(A∪C), …
– De Morgan’s laws, (A∪B)c = Ac∩Bc, (A∩B)c = Ac∪Bc
– Absorption laws, A∪(A∩B) = A, A∩(A∪B) = A
– Complement laws, A∪Ac = U, A∩Ac = ∅
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 Set Identity
How can we prove A∪(B∩C) = (A∪B)∩(A∪C)?
Method I: logical equivalent
x∈A∪(B∩C)
⇔ x∈A ∨ x∈(B∩C)
⇔ x∈A ∨ (x∈B ∧ x∈C)
⇔ (x∈A ∨ x∈B) ∧ (x∈A ∨ x∈C) (distributive law)
⇔ x∈(A∪B) ∧ x∈(A∪C)
⇔ x∈(A∪B)∩(A∪C)
Every logical expression can be transformed into an
equivalent expression in set theory and vice versa.

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 Set Operations
Method II: Membership table
1 means “x is an element of this set”
0 means “x is not an element of this set”
A B C B∩C A∪(B∩C) A∪B A∪C (A∪B) ∩
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 (A∪C) 0

0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0
0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0
0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1
1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1
1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
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