Problem Set 1 Solutions
Problem Set 1 Solutions
Problem Set 1 Solutions
HKUST
September 9, 2022
Problem 1. S is a set that has n < ∞ elements. How many subsets does S have? Explain.
Solution. 2n .
By way of induction:
1. n = 0 : S = ∅, we only have 1 subset (20 = 1)
2. Assume it is correct for n = k. If n = k + 1, every subset in the new set can either be represented as S 0
or S 0 ∪ {an+1 }, where S 0 is a set of all previous elements and an+1 is a new element. So additional of an
element increases the number of subsets twice.
1
Step 2:
Let us take the L.H.S. (A ∩ B) ∩ C
Let x ∈ (A ∩ B) ∩ C, then x ∈ (A and B) and x ∈ C
This implies x ∈ A and x ∈ B and x ∈ C
So x ∈ A ∩ B ∩ C
A ∩ (B ∩ C) ⊂ A ∩ B ∩ C – (4)
From equation (3) and (4), we have (A ∩ B) ∩ C = A ∩ B ∩ C
Problem 4. A and B are both finite sets, and |A| = |B|. Prove that there exists a bijective mapping
f : A → B.
Solution. Since A and B are finite and |A| = |B|, there is a natural number n such that A and B both have
exactly n elements. We can index the elements in A as {a1 , ..., an } where n = |A|. Similarly, we can index
the elements in B as {b1 , ..., bn }. Consider the mapping f : A → B where f (ai ) = bi ∀i = 1, ..., n. f is
one-to-one because f (ai ) = bi 6= bj = f (aj ) if ai 6= aj . f is onto because for any bi ∈ B we have f (ai ) = bi .