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Cardinal It y Worksheet

This document defines cardinality and related concepts. It provides definitions, properties, and examples of cardinality and countable sets. It also presents problems applying these concepts, such as determining if certain functions are surjective or bijective, proving properties of functions between sets, and using diagonalization to show certain sets have different cardinalities.

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LORAINE SHEEN LAURENTE
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53 views2 pages

Cardinal It y Worksheet

This document defines cardinality and related concepts. It provides definitions, properties, and examples of cardinality and countable sets. It also presents problems applying these concepts, such as determining if certain functions are surjective or bijective, proving properties of functions between sets, and using diagonalization to show certain sets have different cardinalities.

Uploaded by

LORAINE SHEEN LAURENTE
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Worksheet on Cardinality

Benjamin Cosman, Patrick Lin and Mahesh Viswanathan


Fall 2020

Definitions from the Lecture

• The cardinality of a finite set A (denoted | A|) is the number


of elements in set A.

• The cardinality of the Cartesian product of finite sets is


the product of the cardinalities of the individual sets, i.e.,
| A1 × A2 × · · · × Ak | = n1 n2 · · · nk , where | Ai | = ni for
i ∈ {1, 2, . . . k }.

• For finite sets A, B, if there is a surjective function f : A →


B then | B| ≤ | A|, and if there is a bijective function f : A →
B then | A| = | B|.

• For any finite set A, |P ( A)| = 2| A| .

• Cantor’s Definition: For infinite sets A, B, we say | B| ≤ | A| if


there is a surjective (onto) function f : A → B, and we say
| A| = | B| if there is a bijective function f : A → B.

• The following properties hold for Cantor’s definition. For


any set A, | A| = | A|. If B ⊆ A then | B| ≤ | A|. Finally,
for infinite sets A, B, C, if | A| = | B| and | B| = |C | then
| A| = |C |, and if | A| ≤ | B| and | B| ≤ |C | then | A| ≤ |C |.

• Cantor-Schröder-Bernstein Theorem: For any infinite sets A


and B, if | A| ≤ | B| and | B| ≤ | A| then | A| = | B|.

• For infinite sets A and B, if there is an injective function f :


A → B then there is a surjective function g : B → A. Thus,
if there is an injective function f : A → B then | A| ≤ | B|.

• A set S is countable if either S is finite or |S| = |N|.

• The sets E (= {2n | n ∈ N}), N, Z, and N × N are all


countable.

• P (N) is not countable.

Problem 1. For each of the following pairs of sets A, B, determine if


there is a function f : A → B that is surjective but not bijective and if
there is a function g : A → B that is bijective.

(a) A = {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9} and B = {0, 2, 4, 6, 8}.


worksheet on cardinality 2

(b) A = N and B = E = {2n | n ∈ N}.

Problem 2. Consider the function sgn : Z → N that maps non-


negative numbers to the even natural numbers and the negative
numbers to the odd numbers as follows.

0 7→ 0
−1 7 → 1
1 7→ 2
−2 7 → 3
2 7→ 4
..
.

(a) Give a precise mathematical definition of sgn.

(b) Prove that sgn is bijective.

Problem 3. Prove that for any sets A and B with A 6= ∅, if there is


an injective function f : A → B then there is a surjective function
g : B → A.

Problem 4. Recall that Q = { ba | a, b ∈ Z and b 6= 0} is the set of


rational numbers. Prove that |Q| = |N|, i.e., Q is countable. Hint: Use
the Cantor-Schröder-Bernstein theorem and Problem 3.

Problem 5. Cantor’s diagonalization argument (see lecture notes) can


be used to prove that |N| 6= |P (N)|. Use the same proof template to
prove that for any infinite set A, | A| 6= |P ( A)|.

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