JHU-CTY Theory of Computation (TCOM) Lancaster 2007 ~ Instructors Kayla Jacobs & Adam Groce

SET THEORY PROBLEMS

SOLUTIONS

* (1) Formal as a Tux and Informal as Jeans

Describe the following sets in both formal and informal ways.

Formal Set Notation Description Informal English Description

a) {2, 4, 6, 8, 10, } The set of all positive even integers

b) {, -3, -1, 1, 3,} The set of all odd integers

c) {n | n = 2m for some y } The set of all positive even integers

(using the convention that 0 is not a natural number)

d) {x | x=2n and x=2k for some n, k } The set of all positive multiples of 6

e) {b | b and b=b+1}

f) {2, 20, 200} The set containing the numbers 2, 20, and 200

g) {n | n and n > 42} The set containing all integers greater than 42

h) {n | n and n < 42 and n > 0} The set containing all positive integers less than 42
= {n | n and n < 42}

i) {
hello
} The set containing the string hello

j) {
bba
,
bab
} The set containing the strings bba and bab

k) = {} The set containing nothing at all

l) {} The set containing the empty string

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 JHU-CTY Theory of Computation (TCOM) Lancaster 2007 ~ Instructors Kayla Jacobs & Adam Groce

* (2) You Want Me to Write What?

Fill in the blanks with , , , , =, or .

Recall that is the set of all integers and is the empty set, {}.

a) 2 ___ ___ {2, 4, 6} g) ___ ___

b) {2} ___ ___ {2, 4, 6} h) 54 ___ ___ {6, 12, 18, }

c) 1.5 ___ ___ i) 54 ___ ___ {6, 12, 18}

d) -1.5 ___ ___ j) {1, 3, 3, 5} ___=___ {1, 3, 5}

e) 15 ___ ___ k) {-3, 1, 5} ______ {1, 3, 5}

f) -15 ___ ___ l) {3, 1, 5} ___=___ {1, 3, 5}

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 JHU-CTY Theory of Computation (TCOM) Lancaster 2007 ~ Instructors Kayla Jacobs & Adam Groce

* (3) Set Operations

Let A = {x, y} and B = {x, y, z}.

a) Is A a subset of B? YES f) B A = {x, y} = A

b) Is B a subset of A? NO g) A x B = {(x, x), (x, y), (x, z), (y, x),

(y, y), (y, z)}
c) A U B = {x, y, z} = B h) B x A = {(x, x), (x, y), (y, x), (y, y),
(z, x), (z, y)}
d) B U A = {x, y, z} = B i) P(A) = {, {x}, {x, y}}

e) A B = {x, y} = A j) P(B) = {, {x}, {y}, {z}, {x, y},

{x, z}, {y,z}, {x, y, z}}

** (4) Does Order Matter?

Three important binary set operations are the union (U), intersection (), and cross product (x).

A binary operation is called commutative if the order of the things it operates on doesnt matter.

For example, the addition (+) operator over the integers is commutative, because for all possible
integers x and y, x + y = y + x.

However, the division () operator over the integers is not commutative, since x y x y for all
integers x and y. (Note it works for some integers x and y, specifically whenever x = y, but not for
every possible integers x and y.)

a) Is the union operation commutative? (Does A U B = B U A for all sets A and B?)

Yes. A U B = {x | x A or x B} = {x | x B or x A} = B U A

b) Is the intersection operation commutative?

Yes. A B = {x | x A and x B} = {x | x B and x A} = B A

c) Is the cross product operation commutative?

No. For a counterexample, see Problem (3g) and (3h) above.

Recall that order matters for pairs.

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 JHU-CTY Theory of Computation (TCOM) Lancaster 2007 ~ Instructors Kayla Jacobs & Adam Groce

*** (5) Set Me Up

Consider the following sets: A = {} B = {A} C = {B} D = {A, }

True (T) or False (F)?

a) A (T) i) A B (T) o) B A (F) u) C A (F)

b) A (T) j) A B (F) p) B A (F) v) C A (F)

c) B (F) k) A C (F) q) B C (T) w) C B (F)

d) B (T) l) A C (F) r) B C (F) x) C B (F)

e) C (F) m) A D (T) s) B D (F) y) C D (F)

f) C (T) n) A D(T) t) B D (T) z) C D (F)

g) D (T)

h) D (T)

Note: May be easier to think about the sets as:

A = { {} }
B = { {{}} }
C = { {{{}}} }
D = { {{}}, {}}