Section 2.

2 Families of Sets 123

Section 2.2 Families of Sets

Purpose of Section: We now extend the set operations of union and

intersection from two sets to several sets, even an infinite number of sets.

Introduction
The union and intersection of sets can be extended readily to the union and
intersection of many, even an infinite number of sets. When dealing with a
collection of several sets, it is common practice to refer to them as families or
classes of sets.. To denote families of sets, one often uses indices such as
{ A1 , A2 , A3 ,
, A10 } For an infinite family, we might write { A1 , A2 , A3 ,
} or maybe

{ Ak }k =1 .
Other common ways to denote families of sets are

{ Ai : i } or { Ak }k
where the set is called an index set. For example,
1
I n = 0, : n 
n
denotes the infinite family of intervals

1 1
0,1) , 0, , 0, ,... .
2 3
The reader might recall the notation for infinite sums and products to be

a
k =1
k = a1 + a2 +
, a
k =1
k = a1a2

which motivates the following notation and definition.

Important Note: We have introduced five number systems

, , , , and  . We know that  stands for natural numbers, 
for quotients,  for real numbers, and  for complex numbers.
But where does the letter  which represents the integers come
from? The answer is that  refers to the first letter of Zahl, the
German word for number.
124 A TASTE OF PURE MATHEMATICS

Definition : Unions and Intersections of Families of Sets The union of

the family of subsets A1 , A2 ,
, An of a universe U is defined as
n
A1 A2
An = Ak = {x U : x Ak for some k = 1, 2,..., n}
k =1

The intersection of the sets A1 , A2 ,
, An is

n
A1 A2 A3
An = Ak = {x U : x Ak for all k = 1, 2,..., n}
k =1

Sometimes one has a more general families of sets { A } where the

index ranges over some index set ( could be a finite set, the
natural numbers, or all values in an interval on the real line.). In this case
the union of the family { A } is

A = { x U : x A for at least one }

and the intersection of the family { A } is

A = { x U : x A for all }

The following examples illustrate these ideas.

Example 1: Infinite Intersections and Unions Define the family of closed
intervals
Ak = 0,
k 1
, k = 2,3,...
k
where a few are drawn in Figure 1. Find the following unions and intersections.
4
a) Ak b) Ak
k =2 k =2
4
c) Ak d) Ak
k =2 k =2
Section 2.2 Families of Sets 125

Solution
The sets A1 A2 A3
form an increasing family of closed intervals,
each member in the family is a subset of the next.

Increasing family of closed intervals

Figure 1

4 3
a) Ak = 0,
k =2 4

b) Ak = [ 0,1)
k =2
4 1
c) Ak
= 0,
k =2 2
1
d) Ak = 0,
k =1 2

Important Note Families of sets are commonplace in the real

world, too. The collection of classes at a university is a family of
sets, where each class is a set of students.
126 A TASTE OF PURE MATHEMATICS

Example 2: Infinite Intersections of Unions Define the sequence of open

intervals
Ak = 0,
k +1
, k = 1, 2,...
k
Find the following union and intersection.

a) Ak = A1 A2
b) A k = A1 A2

k =1 k =1

Solution
A few sets in the family are drawn in Figure 2.

Decreasing family of open intervals

Figure 2

We find

k +1 2 3 4
Ak = 0, = 0, 0, 0,
= ( 0, 2 )
k =1 k =1 k 1 2 3

k +1 2 3 4
Ak = 0, = 0, 0, 0,
= ( 0,1]
k =1 k =1 k 1 2 3

Example 3: Indexed Family Define a sequence of families of sets by

Ak = {k + 1, k + 2,
, 2k} , k = 1, 2,...
Section 2.2 Families of Sets 127

Do you understand that

Ak = {n N : n 2} A k =
k =1 k =1

Example 4: Set Projection Let S {( x, y ) : x, y } denote a subset of the

plane. For each real number x define the set

Ax = { y  : ( x, y ) S }

For each x  this set defines those values of y such that ( x, y ) S . The union

A
x
x

is the projection of S onto the y -axis as illustrated in Figure 3.

Projection of a Set
Figure 3

Extended Laws for Sets

Many of the laws for intersection and union of sets that we studied in Section
2.1 can be extended to families of sets. We leave the proofs to most of these laws
to the reader.
128 A TASTE OF PURE MATHEMATICS

Laws for Families of Sets

a ) A B = ( A B )

b) A B = ( A B )

c) A = A

(De Morgans Law)

d) A = A

(De Morgans Law)

Proof of d) We first show A A

by letting

x A x A

( )( x A )
( ) ( x A )

( ) x A

Hence,
A A .

/The proof of the set containment follows along the same lines and is left to
the reader.

Topologies on a Set
A topology on a set is a family of subsets of the set that allow for the study of
convergence of points in the set. The study of point-set topology forms the basis
of many areas of mathematics such as topology, and real and complex analysis.

The idea is to introduce a family J of subsets of a given set U . A typical set

U would be the real numbers or the Cartesian plane. The sets in the family J
are called open sets and these sets act as "neighborhoods" of points in U ,
allowing for the discussion of convergence sequences in U . This family of open
sets J is called a topology on the set U . But not any collection of subsets of U
Section 2.2 Families of Sets 129

is called a topology? There are three restrictions on a family of subsets of U in

order that it forms a topology on U . They are as follows:

Definition: A topology J on a set U is any collection of subsets of

U that satisfies the following conditions:
1) The empty set and U belong to the family J .
2) The union of any collection of sets in J also belongs to J .
3) The intersection of any finite number sets in J also to J .
The sets in the topology J are called the open sets in the
topology (or just open sets). Properties 2) and 3) say that the
family J is closed under unions and finite intersections.

As an illustration, consider the set U

U = {a, b, c}

So what subsets of U can we choose as our open sets? We know U has a total
of 23 = 8 subsets. Below we list five families of subsets of U , each of which
satisfies the given conditions of being a topology on U . The reader can verify
(See Problem 8) each family J1 , J 2 , J 3 , J 4 , J 5 satisfies the conditions for being a
topology on U . The topology J1 contains two open sets, the empty set and
the universe U , and is called the indiscrete topology for U . At the other
extreme, the topology J 5 contains all subsets of U and is called the discrete
topology, which means that every subset of U is an open set. The other
topologies J 2 , J 3 , J 4 are between the two extreme topologies.

J1 = {,U } indiscrete topology

J 2 = {, {a} , U }
J 3 = {, {a} , {b, c} ,U }
J 4 = {, {a, b} ,U }
J 5 = {, {a} , {b} , {c} , {a, b} , {a, c} , {b, c} ,U } discrete topology

Theorem 1 Let U = {a, b, c} . The power set

J = {, {a} , {b, c} , {a, b, c}} = P (U )

of U is a topology on U .
130 A TASTE OF PURE MATHEMATICS

Proof: We verify the three conditions required for a topology. The first condition
is verified since the topology J contains both the empty set and U . To verify
that J is closed under unions, we take the unions of sets in J and see the that
the union also belongs to J For example,

{a} {b, c} = {a, b, c} J

{a} = {a} J
{a} {a, b, c} = {a, b, c} J

To show the family J is closed under intersections, we take intersections of

members of J and observe their intersections also belong to J . For example,

{a} {b, c} = J
{a} {b, c} = {a} J
{b, c} {a, b, c} = {b, c} J

So what do these topologies on U have to do with convergence? We will

discover how in Section 5.4 when we introduce point-set topology and a
neighborhood of a point.

_________________________________

Problems
1.Let Ak = {k , k + 1 } , k = 1, 2,... denote a sequence of pairs of positive
integers.. Describe the following sets.
5
a) A
k =1
k Ans: {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}

b) A
k
k Ans: 

c) A
k 5
k

d) Ak
1 k 4
5
e) A
k =1
k
Section 2.2 Families of Sets 131

f) A
k
k

2. Unions and Intersections Find the infinite union and intersections

A
k =1
k and A
k =1
k

for the following sets.

k 1
a) Ak = 0,
k
1 1
b) Ak = ,
k k
1
c) Ak = 0,
k
1
d) Ak = {k} , 2k
k
e) Ak = [ k , k + 1]
1
f) Ak = 0,1 +
k

3. Families of Sets in the Plane Define a family of sets in the plane  2 by

Am ,n = {( x, y )  2 : x m, y n} where a, b  . Find the following sets.
Hint: Proceed exactly like one does with double series.

3
3
a) Aa,b
n =1 m = 2
3
3

b) Aa,b
n =1 m = 2

4. Identity for an Indexed Family Show

B A = ( B A )

132 A TASTE OF PURE MATHEMATICS

5. Algebra of Sets Let A be a set and a collection of subsets

of A. The collection is called an algebra1 of sets if
a) A B is in whenever A and B are in
b) A is in whenever A is in
When this happens we say the family is closed under unions and
complementation. Which of the following collections of subsets of
A = {a, b, c} constitute an algebra of subsets of A ?
a) The power set = P ( A )
b) = {, A}
c) = {, {a} , A}
d) = {, {a} , {b, c} , A}

6. Sets of Length Zero In measure theory, a subset A of the real numbers is

said to have length (or measure) zero if > 0 there exists a
sequence Ak = (ak , bk ) of open intervals that cover A : i.e.

A ( ak , bk )
k =1

and their total length is less than ; that is,

b
k =1
k ak < .

Show that any sequence of real numbers {ck } , k = 1, 2,... has measure zero.
Hint: Cover each element ck in the sequence by an interval (ak , bk ) of length
bk ak = / 2k .

7. Compact Sets A subset A of the real numbers is said to be compact if

for every collection = {( a , b ) : } of open intervals that contains (or
covers) A ; i.e.
A ( a ,b )

there exists a finite subcollection of intervals of whose union also contains

(covers) A . Show the set A = (0,1) is not compact by showing the following:

1
Algebras of sets and sigma algebras (families of sets closed under countable unions) are
fundamental in the study of measure theory. Note the difference between an algebra of subsets
and a topology of subsets on a universe; just a minor difference makes for vastly different
structures on the universe.
Section 2.2 Families of Sets 133

a) A is covered by
1
= 0,1 : k = 1, 2,...
k

b) There does not exist a finite sub-collection of whose union contains A .

8. Topologies Verify that the following families are topologies on {a, b, c} .

J1 = {,U }
J 2 = {, {a} ,U }
J 3 = {, {a} , {b, c} , U }
J 4 = {, {a, b} , U }
J 5 = {, {a} , {b} , {c} , {a, b} , {a, c} , {b, c} , U }

9. Topologies Which of the following families of subsets of {a, b, c} are

topologies on {a, b, c} ?
a) J = {, {b} , {c} , {a, b, c}}
b) J = {, {a, b} , {b, c} , {a, b, c}}
c) J = {, {a} , {b, c}}
d) J = {, {b} , {b, c} , {a, b, c}}

10. Finding Intersections Find an infinite family of sets, none of

which is the given set, whose intersection is
a) {1}
b) 0, )

11. Finding Unions Find an infinite family of sets, none of which is

the given set, whose union is

a) ( 0, )
b) 
12. Quotient Set  / 5 Given the integers  = {0, 1, 2,...} we say that two
integers are equivalent (mod 5) if they have the same remainder when
divided by 5. Recalling that a negative number like 4 has a remainder of
1 when divided by 5 since
134 A TASTE OF PURE MATHEMATICS

4 5 + 1 1
= = 1 +
5 5 5
find the family of sets where each set in the family consists of sets of
equivalent integers. This family of equivalent sets is an example of a
quotient set, which in this case we denote by  5 .