Mathematical Language and Symbols

GEC 14
Mathematics in the Modern World

Department of Mathematics
College of Science
Bicol University

Sets, Subsets, Cartesian Products, Relations, Functions

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Ordered Pair

Given elements a and b, the symbol (a, b) denotes the

ordered pair consisting of a and b together with the
specification that a is the first element of the pair and
b is the second element.
Note:
Two ordered pairs (a, b) and (c, d) are equal if and only if
a = c and b = d. Symbolically:

(a, b) = (c, d) means that a = c and b = d.

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Cartesian Product

Given sets A and B, the Cartesian product of A and B,

denoted by A × B and read ”A cross B”, is the set of all
ordered pairs (a, b), where a is in A and b is in B.
Symbolically:

A × B = {(a, b) | a ∈ A and b ∈ B}.

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Relation

Let A and B be sets.

A relation R from A to B is a subset of A × B.
Given an ordered pair (x,y) in A × B, x is related to y by
R, written x R y , if and only if, (x, y ) is in R.

• the set A is called the domain of R

• the set B is called its co-domain of R

Remark:
The notation x R y means that “x is not related to y by R”.

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Arrow Diagram of a Relation

Suppose R is a relation from a set A to a set B. The arrow

diagram for R is obtained as follows:
1. Represent the elements of A as points in one region and
the elements of B as points in another region.
2. For each x in A and y in B, draw an arrow from x to y if
and only if x is related to y by R.

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Function

A function F from a set A to a set B is a relation with

domain A and co-domain B that satisfies the following two
properties:
1. For every element x in A, there is an element y in B such
that (x, y ) ∈ F .
2. For all elements x in A and y and z in B,

if (x, y ) ∈ F and (x, z) ∈ F , then y = z.

A relation F from A to B is a function if and only if:

(1) Every element of A is the first element of an ordered pair of F .
(2) No two distinct ordered pairs in F have the same first element.

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Function

If A and B are sets and F is a function from A to B, then

given any element x in A, the unique element in B that is
related to x by F is denoted F (x), which is read ”F of x”.

Note:
Always remember the given conditions (1) and (2) in
identifying functions.

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Examples
Let A = {2, 4, 6} and B = {1, 3, 5}. Which of the relations R, S,
and T defined below are functions from A to B?
a. R = {(2, 5), (4, 1), (4, 3), (6, 5)}
Solution:

Notice that the ordered pairs (4,1) and (4,3) have the same first
element but different second elements. Hence, it does not satisfy
property (2). Therefore, R is not a function.
J.B.E. Riñon - Bicol University GEC 14 MMW: Mathematical Language 8 / 29
Examples
Let A = {2, 4, 6} and B = {1, 3, 5}.

b. For all (x, y ) ∈ A × B, (x, y ) ∈ S means that y = x + 1.

Solution:
Consider 2 ∈ A, which gives us x = 2. Thus, we have
x =2: y =x +1 =⇒ y = 2 + 1 = 3, 3∈B
x =4: y =x +1 =⇒ y = 4 + 1 = 5, 5∈B
x =6: y =x +1 =⇒ y = 6 + 1 = 7, 7 6∈ B

With 6 ∈ S, we have 7 which is

not in B. Thus, it does not
satisfy property (1). Hence, the
relation S is not a function.

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Examples

Let A = {2, 4, 6} and B = {1, 3, 5}.

c. T is defined by the arrow diagram.

Solution:
Observe that each element in {2,4,6} is related to some element
in {1,3,5} and no element in {2,4,6} is related more than one
element in {1,3,5}. Thus, T is a function.

J.B.E. Riñon - Bicol University GEC 14 MMW: Mathematical Language 10 / 29

Functions

Definition
If f is a function from A to B, we say that A is the domain of f
and B is the codomain of f . If f (a) = b, we say that b is the
image of a and a is the preimage of b. The range of f is the set
of all images of elements of A. Also, if f is a function from A to
B, we say that f maps A to B.

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Example
Let A = {2, 4, 6} and B = {1, 3, 5}.
The function T is defined by the arrow diagram.

Note that T is a function from A to B, and we consider A as the

domain of T and B as the codomain of T . Also, we can write
T (2) = 5, T (4) = 1, and T (6) = 1. This implies that 5 is the
image of 2, 1 is the image of 4, and 1 is also the image of 6.
Hence, the range of T is {1, 5}.
J.B.E. Riñon - Bicol University GEC 14 MMW: Mathematical Language 12 / 29
Functions

Let f be a function from A to B.

One-to-One function (injection):

f (x) = f (y ) ⇐⇒ x = y , ∀ x, y in the domain of f .

Onto function (surjection):

For every b, there is an element a ∈ A with f (a) = b.

One-to-One Correspondence (bijection):

functions that are both one-to-one and onto

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Examples

Let C = {1, 2, 3, 4} and D = {v , w , x, y , z}. Which of the

following relations represent a one-to-one function?

i. {(2, v ), (2, w ), (2, x), (2, y ), (2, z)}

ii. {(2, z), (3, x), (4, v ), (1, x)}

iii. {(3, w ), (2, y ), (1, z), (2, x)}

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Examples

Let A = {2, 4, 6} and B = {1, 3, 5}.

The function T from A to B is defined by the arrow diagram.

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Examples

Suppose we have a relation from X to Y described by the

following arrow diagram.

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Examples

Suppose a function F from A = {a, b, c, d} to

B = {v , w , x, y } is defined by the following diagram.

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Functions Defined by Formulas
The squaring function f from R to R is defined by the formula

f (x) = x 2 ,

for all real numbers x.

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Functions Defined by Formulas
The successor function g from Z to Z is defined by the
formula
g (n) = n + 1,
for any integer n.

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Functions Defined by Formulas
An example of a constant function is a function h from Q
to Z is defined by the formula

h(r ) = 2.

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Functions Defined by Formulas

A relation is a subset of a Cartesian product and a function is

a special kind of relation. Specifically, if f and g are functions
from a set A to a set B, then

f = {(x, y ) ∈ A × B | y = f (x)} and

g = {(x, y ) ∈ A × B | y = g (x)}.

It follows that f equals g , written f = g , if and only if

f (x) = g (x) for all x in A.

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Equality of Functions

Example: Define f : R −→ R and g : R −→ R by the

following formulas:

f (x) = |x| for all x ∈ R,

√
g (x) = x 2 for all x ∈ R.

Does f = g ?

Solution:
Yes. Because the absolute value of any
√ real number equals
the square root of its square, |x| = x 2 for all x ∈ R. Hence,
f = g.

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Equality of Functions
Let A = {0, 1, 2, 3} and B = {0, 1, 2, 3}. Define the functions
f and g from A to B as follows:

f (x) = (x + 1)2 and g (x) = (3x + 1)2 .

Is f = g ?

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Exercises

1. Let X = {2, 4, 5} and Y = {1, 2, 4, 6}. Which of the

following arrow diagrams determine functions from X to Y ?

A B

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Exercises

1. Let X = {2, 4, 5} and Y = {1, 2, 4, 6}. Which of the

following arrow diagrams determine functions from X to Y ?

C D

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Exercises

1. Let X = {2, 4, 5} and Y = {1, 2, 4, 6}. Which of the

following arrow diagrams determine functions from X to Y ?

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Exercises

2. Define a relation T from R to R as follows: For all real

numbers x and y ,

(x, y ) ∈ T means that y 2 − x 2 = 1.

Is T a function? Explain.

3. Let f be the squaring function defined as f (x) = x 2 .

Find f (−1), f (0), and f (12).

4. Let g be the successor function defined as g (n) = n + 1.

Find g (−1000), g (0), and g (999).

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Exercises

5. Define functions f and g from R to R by the following

formulas: For all x ∈ R,
2x 3 + 2x
f (x) = 2x and g (x) = .
x2 + 1
Does f = g ? Explain.

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