University of Debrecen, Faculty of Informatics

Logic in Computer Science

Basic concepts of set theory

September 12, 2024

Set and membership

The concepts of set and member are considered basic concepts without any defi-
nition. Although the set are usually illustrated as a collection of objects whose are
called members.

A set can be given in many different ways:

1. by enumerating its members, e.g.:

• {spring; summer; autumn; winter} is the set of seasons,

• {0; 1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7} is the set of octal digits, but
• ∅ represents the empty set;

2. by finding a common properties of the members with a help of a condition:

• { a ∣ a is a non-negative integer and a < 8 }; furthermore

3. inductively.

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Membership relation

The fact that an object a is membered in a set A is written as

a∈A

where the symbol ∈ represents the membership relation. To indicate that an object
a is not membered in a set A, we can use the notation:

a∉A

For example, let us denote the set of natural numbers by N, which can be formally
defined as:
N ⇌ {1; 2; 3; : : : }
• 3 is a natural number, which can be expressed as 3 ∈ N,

• 0 is not a natural number, which can be written as 0 ∉ N.

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Inductively defined sets

An inductive definition of a set consists of declaration steps and inductive steps. By

using this technique, the inductive definition of the set of natural numbers N can be
the following:

The set of natural numbers N is defined inductively as follows:

1. 1 ∈ N, and

2. a + 1 ∈ N if a ∈ N.

The first item of this definition is a simple declaration saying that an object is mem-
bered in the set. In contrast, the second item is the inductive step, showing how to
generate new members from existing ones.

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Basic terms and notations

Let A and B be two arbitrary sets.

• The set A is the subset of the set B, if all members of A are membered in B.
It can be formally written as A ⊆ B.

• If A ⊆ B and B ⊆ A then A and B said to be equal.

It can be formally written as A = B.

• A and B are disjoint if they have no element in common.

The power set of a set A denoted by 2A is the set that contains all subsets of the
set A.

2A ⇌ {B∣B⊆A}
{0;1}
e.g. 2 = {∅; {0}; {1}; {0; 1}}

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Basic operations

Let A and B be two arbitrary sets.

• union: A ∪ B ⇌ { a ∣ a ∈ A or a ∈ B } ;
• intersection: A ∩ B ⇌ { a ∣ a ∈ A and a ∈ B } ;
• difference: A / B ⇌ { a ∣ a ∈ A and a ∈/ B } ;
• symmetrical difference: A △ B ⇌ (A / B) ∪ (B / A):

Let U be the universal set, that is, the set of all objects under our consideration. (A
universal set is a set that contains all the elements or objects of other sets in our
discussion.)

• complement: A ⇌ U / A.

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Ordered pair

An ordered pair is a pair of objects a and b that can be formally written as:

⟨a; b⟩

Two ordered pair ⟨a; b⟩ and ⟨c; d⟩ are equal if and only if a = c and b = d; meaning
that the order in which we enumerate the objects matters.

Remark

The term “ordered pair” can be defined with the earlier discussed tools of set theory.
One possible solution is the following:

⟨a; b⟩ ⇌ {{{a}; ∅}; {{b}}}

This definition satisfies what is stated above regarding equality.

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Cartesian product

Let A, B be two arbitrary sets. The Cartesian product of the sets A and B is denoted
by A × B and it is defined as a set of all ordered pairs ⟨a; b⟩ where a ∈ A and b ∈ B.
Formally:

A × B ⇌ { ⟨a; b⟩ ∣ a ∈ A and b ∈ B }
The Cartesian product of the sequence of sets A1 ; A2 ; : : : ; An (n > 0) can be defined
by using n-tuples:

A1 × A2 × ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ × An ⇌ { ⟨a1 ; a2 ; : : :; an ⟩ ∣ ai ∈ Ai for all i ∈ {1; 2; : : : ; n} }

The An is an abbreviation for A × A × ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ × A.
´¹¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¸ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¶
n times

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Binary relations

R is called binary relation over the sets A and B if R ⊆ A × B.

The binary relation R on a single set A is defined as a subset of A × A.

The fact, that a and b are in relation R can be formally written as

⟨a; b⟩ ∈ R or a R b:

Let R ⊆ A × B be a binary relation;

• the domain of R is denoted by dom(R) and defined as follows:

dom(R) ⇌ { a ∣ a ∈ A and there is some b ∈ B such that ⟨a; b⟩ ∈ R } ;

• the range of R is denoted by dom(R) and defined as follows:

rng(R) ⇌ { b ∣ b ∈ B and there is some a ∈ A such that ⟨a; b⟩ ∈ R } :

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Properties of binary relations

Let R be a binary relation on the set A and so R ⊆ A × A.

The binary relation R is called

• reflexive: if a R a for all a ∈ A,

• antireflexive: if there is no a ∈ A such that a R a,

• symmetric: if b R a for all a R b,

• asymmetric: if it is not symmetric,

• antisymmetric: if a = b, for all a R b and b R a,

• transitive: if a R c for all a R b and b R c.

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Properties of binary relations

Let R be a binary relation such that R ⊆ A × B.

The binary relation R is called

• injective: if a R c and b R c then a = b (for all a, b and c);

• right total (surjective): if rng(R) = B;

• left total: if dom(R) = A;

• bijective: if it is both injective and surjective;

• functional: if a R b and a R c then b = c (for all a, b and c);

• function: if it is functional and left total.

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Notations regarding functions

If f is a function on A × B then this can be formally written as:

f ∶ A → B:

Set of functions

BA represents the set of functions which has the domain A and the range B or in
formal writing:
BA ⇌ { f ∣ f ∶ A → B } :

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