SETS

Subtitle

E. Zimudzi
Department of Computer Science
University of Botswana

05 February, 2024

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OUTLINE

1. INTRODUCTION
Subsets
Equality of sets
Set Compliment
The Size of the Set
Power Sets
Cartesian Products
Set Notation with Quantifiers

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Set
An unordered collection of entities/objects (called set members/elements of a set).
• Many discrete structures we are going to study are built using sets.Examples include:
• Combinations- unordered collection of objects-used in counting.
• Relations- sets of ordered pairs that represent relationships,
• Graphs- sets of vertices and edges that connect vertices
• Finite state machines- used to model computing machines
• Sets group objects with similar properties together. e.g. set of csi131 students; set of odd
numbers, etc.
• The order of elements not significant, repeating elements also insignificant.

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Set membership
Elements placed in curly brackets: A = {2, 4, 6, 8}.
We say 2 is an element of A, i.e. 2 ∈ A.

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3 ways to specify sets
1. List all members of the set (roster method).
• V = {a, e, i, o, u}
2. Sometimes the roster method is used without listing all the members of the set. The
ellipses (...) are used when the general pattern of the elements is obvious.
• S = {2, 4, 6, 8, ...} - set of positive even numbers.
3. Give a property that characterizes the elements (set builder).
• B = {x/x is a 2 digit integer each of whose digit is 1 or 2 }.
B = {11, 12, 22, 21}
• C = {x/x is an odd integer > 1}. C = {3, 5, 7, 9, ...}

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Notation:
x ∈ A means x is a member of set A, whereas x ∈
/ A means x is not a member of A.
1. Example: Let A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6} and D = {1, 2, 3} then D can be specified as:
• D = {x|x ∈ A ∧ x < 4} or D = {x ∈ A|x < 4}
• In words, D is a set of all x in A such that x < 4
2. Example: Let B = {x|x is an odd number > 1.} and Let
C = {3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13}
• Then C = {x|x ∈ B ∧ x ≤ 13} or
C = {x ∈ B ∧ x ≤ 13}

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Subsets
Let A and B be sets.
A is a subset of B, written as A ⊆ B, if all elements of A are in B.
B is a superset of A.
A ⊆ B if and only if the quantification ∀x(x ∈ A → x ∈ B) is true.
Showing that A is a Subset of B To show that A ⊆ B show that if x belongs to A then x
also belongs to B.
Showing that A is Not a Subset of B To show that A ⊈ B, find a single x ∈ A such that
x∈ / B.

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Equality of sets
We write A = B (A and B are equal sets) if sets A and B have similar elements.
Therefore, if A and B are sets, then A and B are equal if and only if ∀x(x ∈ A ↔ x ∈ B)
To prove that A = B, show that A ⊆ B and B ⊆ A.

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Set Complement
Let A be a set.
• The complement of set A, written as A is the set of everything that is not an element of
A.
• The complement in defined in the context of some universal set U containing all elements
of interest.
• A = {x|x ∈ U ∧ x ∈
/ A}.

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The Empty Set
The empty set or null set is denoted by ∅ or { }

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Theorem
For every set S,
(i) ∅ ⊆ S, (ii) S ⊆ S

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The Size of the Set
Def
Let S be a set
If there are exactly n distinct elements in S, n ≥ 0, n ∈ Z, we say that S is a finite set and
that n is the cardinality of S, denoted | S |.
e.g. Let A be the set of odd positive integers less than 10. Then | A |= 5.
e.g. The null set has no elements, it follows that | ∅ |= 0. A set is said to be infinite if it is not
finite.

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Power Sets
Def
Given a set S, the power set of S is the set of all subsets of the set S. The power set of S is
denoted by P(S).
If a set has n elements, then its power set has 2n elements.

e.g What is the power set of the set {0, 1, 2}?

Sol
The power set P({0, 1, 2}) is the set of all subsets of {0, 1, 2}.
P({0, 1, 2}) = {∅, {0}, {1}, {2}, {0, 1}, {0, 2}, {1, 2}, {0, 1, 2}}

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Cartesian Product
Def
Let A and B be sets. The Cartesian product of A and B, denoted by A × B, is the set of all
ordered pairs (a, b), where a ∈ A and b ∈ B.
Hence,
A × B = {(a, b)|a ∈ A ∧ b ∈ B}
Sol
What is the Cartesian product of A = {1, 2} and B = {a, b, c}.
The Cartesian product A × B is

A × B = {(1, a), (1, b), (1, c), (2, a), (2, b), (2.c)}
Note: A × B and B × A are not equal.

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Using Set Notation with Quantifiers
What do the statements ∀x ∈ R(x2 ≥ 0) and ∃x ∈ Z(x2 = 1) mean?
∀x ∈ R(x2 ≥ 0) can be expressed as “The square of every real number is nonnegative.” This
is a true statement.
The statement ∃x ∈ Z(x2 = 1) can be expressed as “There is an integer whose square is 1.”
This is also a true statement because x = 1 is such an integer (as is −1).

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Set Operations

Let A, B be sets. Set A and B can be combined using set operations.

Union - ∪
A ∪ B = {x|x ∈ A ∨ x ∈ B}. e.g: {8, 7, 3, 2} ∪ {4, 8, 2} = {2, 3, 4, 7, 8}

Intersection - ∩
A ∩ B = {x|x ∈ A ∧ x ∈ B}. e.g: {8, 7, 3, 2} ∩ {2, 8} = {2, 3, 4, 7, 8}

Set difference
A − B = {x|x ∈ A ∧ x ∈ / B} which is the same as A ∩ B,
Example: {8, 7, 3, 2} − {4, 8, 2} = {3, 7}

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Principle of inclusion-exclusion
• | A | + | B | - counts all elements in A, then add that count to that of all elements in B.
so an element that appears in both A and B is counted twice.
• So, to count elements in A ∪ B use the following:
| A ∪ B |= (| A | + | B |)− | A ∩ B |

The Symmetric difference - ⊕

is the set containing those elements in either A or B, but not in both A and B.
A ⊕ B = (A − B) ∪ (B − A) = (A ∪ B) − (A ∩ B)

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Summary
• | A | + | B | - counts all elements in A, then add that count to that of all elements in B.
so an element that appears in both A and B is counted twice.
• So, to count elements in A ∪ B use the following:
| A ∪ B |= (| A | + | B |)− | A ∩ B |

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Set Identities
Note the similarities with logical equivalences.

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Methods of Proving Set Identities

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If A and B are sets, then,

A × B = {(x, y) : x ∈ A, y ∈ B}
A ∪ B = {x : x ∈ A ∧ x ∈ B}
A ∩ B = {x : x ∈ A ∨ x ∈ B}
A − B = {x : x ∈ A ∧ x ∈
/ B}
A=U−A

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Proof using the Subset Method
Example Prove that A ∩ B = A ∪ B
Solution We will prove that the two sets A ∩ B and A ∪ B are equal by showing that each set
is a subset of the other, i.e. A ∩ B ⊆ A ∪ B and A ∪ B ⊆ A ∩ B
First, show that A ∩ B ⊆ A ∪ B, i.e. if x is in A ∩ B, then it must must also be in A ∪ B.
• Suppose that x ∈ A ∩ B.
• By def of a complement x ∈ / A ∩ B.
• By def of intersection ¬((x ∈ A) ∧ (x ∈ B)).
• Applying De Morgan’s Law ¬(x ∈ A) or ¬(x ∈ B).
• By definition of negation x ∈
/ A or x ∈
/B
• By definition of complement x ∈ A or x ∈ B.
• x∈A∪B
Hence shown.

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Showing that A ∪ B ⊆ A ∩ B
We do this by showing that if x ∈ A ∪ B, then it must be in A ∩ B.
• Suppose that x ∈ A ∪ B.
• By definition of union x ∈ A or x ∈ B
• By def of a complement x ∈ / A or x ∈
/ B.
• Consequently ¬((x ∈ A) ∨ (x ∈ B)) is true.
• Applying De Morgan’s Law ¬(x ∈ A) and ¬(x ∈ B) is true.
• By definition of intersection ¬(x ∈ (A ∩ B)) is true.
• By definition of complement x ∈ A ∩ B.
Hence shown.
∴A∩B =A∪B

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Proof using the set builder notation
Example Use set builder notation and logical equivalences to establish the first De Morgan
law A ∩ B = A ∪ B.
We can prove this identity with the following steps.

A ∩ B = {x|x ∈
/ A ∩ B} by definition of complement
= {x|¬(x ∈ (A ∩ B))} by definition of does not belong symbol
= {x|¬(x ∈ A ∧ x ∈ B)} by definition of intersection
= {x|¬(x ∈ A) ∨ ¬(x ∈ B)} by the first De Morgan law for logical equivalences
= {x|x ∈
/ A∨x∈
/ B} by definition of does not belong symbol
= {x|x ∈ A ∨ x ∈ B} by definition of complement
= {x|x ∈ A ∪ B} by definition of union
=A∪B by meaning of set builder notation

Hence shown. 24 / 26
Proof using Membership Table
Example Use a membership table to show that A ∩ (B ∪ C) = (A ∩ B) ∪ (A ∩ C).

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The End

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