Mathematical Preliminaries

Mwawi F Msiska

2021
House Keeping

I Timetable
1. Lectures: Mon Tue Wed
2. Tutorial:
I Google Classroom: e2szmfa
I Assessment: Three Tests
1. Test 1 – 21 Dec (15%)
2. Test 2 – 25 Jan (10%)
3. Test 3 – 22 Feb (10%)
4. Tutorials – MUST ATTEND (5%)
I Prescribed Text: Sipser, M. (2012). Introduction to the
Theory of Computation (3rd ed.). Course Technology
Sets

I Defn. A set is a group of objects represented as a unit.

I what objects types are allowed?
I Anything!
I Integers, Strings, Cars ...
I Even sets! Can have a set of sets!
I Terminology. The objects in sets are called members or
elements
I Can describe a set by a comma-separated list enclosed in
braces
I e.g. {a,3, g}
I {1, 2, 3, . . .}
I {. . . , −2, −1, 0, 1, 2, . . .}
I Can also describe a set by stating a rule for set membership
I e.g. {n | n = 2m + 1, for an integer m}
Sets

I Order of elements does not matter

I {a, b, c,} = {b, c, a}
I Duplicate elements do not matter
I {23, 7, 8, 91} = {23, 7, 8, 8, 23, 91}
I When only duplicates matter, then we have a multiset
I As multisets, {23, 7, 8, 91} =
6 {23, 7, 8, 8, 23, 91}
I When both order and duplicates matter, then we have a
sequence
I As sequences,
{23, 7, 8, 91} =
6 {23, 23, 7, 8, 91} =
6 {23, 7, 8, 8, 23, 91}
I Notation
I Set membership: 8 ∈ {23, 7, 8, 91}
/ {n | n = m2 , m ∈ N}
I non-membership: 5 ∈
Sets

I Notation
I Set variables: Use capital letters – A, B, C, Q, R, ...
I Let A = {1, 2, 3, 4}, B = {1, 2, 4}, N = {1, 2, 3, . . .},
C = {n |n = m2 , m ∈ N, m < 5} D = {3, 5}
I Subset: X ⊆ Y
I B ⊆ A, A ⊆ N B 6⊆ C
I Proper subset X ⊂ Y
I A ⊂ N, B ⊂ A
I B⊂6 C
I Empty set: ∅
I Union: X ∪ Y
I A ∪ D = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}, A∪B =A
I Intersection: X ∩ Y
I A ∩ B = B, A ∩ D = {3}, B ∩D =∅
I Notation
I Universal set: set of all elements under consideration
I Complement: X
I e.g. Let U = {1, 2, 3, . . . , 10} and A = {1, 2, 3, 5, 7}
I Then A = {4, 6, 8, 9, 10}
I Power set: set of all subsets of a given set
I Let A = {1, 2, 3}
I The power set of A is denoted 2A
2A = {∅, {1}, {2}, {3}, {1, 2}, {2, 3}, {1, 3}, {1, 2, 3}}
Sequences

I Defn. A sequence is a list of objects in some order

I Order matters
I Duplicates matter
I Notation Comma-separated list in parentheses
I e.g. (2, 6, 8, 16)
I (3, 6, 9) 6= (3, 3, 3, 6, 6, 9) 6= (3, 3, 6, 3, 3, 9)
I A finite sequence is called a tuple
I 1-tuple – e.g. (37)
I 2-tuple (also called a pair) – e.g. (3, 4)
I triple, quadruple, quintuple, . . . , n-tuple
Sequences
I Defn. Given two sets A and B, the Cartesian product (also
called the cross product), denoted A × B, is a set of all pairs
where the first element is drawn from A and the second from
B.
I e.g. Let A = {1, 2}, B = {a, b, c} and C = {x, y }
I Then A × B = {(1, a), (1, b), (1, c), (2, a), (2, b), (2, c)}
I A×B ×C =
{(1, a, x), (a, a, y ), (1, b, x), (1, b, y ), (1, c, x), (1, c, y ),
(2, a, x), (2, a, y ), (2, b, x), (2, b, y ), (2, c, x), (2, c, y )}
I In general, if A1 , A2 , . . . Ak are sets, Then the Cartesian
product of the k sets,
A1 × A2 × . . . × Ak = {(a1 , a2 , . . . , ak ) | ai ∈ Ai , 1 ≤ i ≤ k}

I You also compute a Cartesian product involving just one set.

k
z }| {
A × A × A × . . . × A = Ak
Functions

I A fundamental mathematical object that sets up input-out

relationship
I The same input always produces the same output
I Notation Let f be a function.
I If f associates the input a with the output b, then we write
f (a) = b
I A function is also called a mapping. Thus, when f (a) = b we
say that the function f maps a to b
I e.g. The add function. add(a,b) = a+b.
I Domain – set of possible inputs to a function
I Range – set of possible outputs
I Notation If the function f has domain D and range R, we
write f : D −→ R.
I e.g. f (x) = x 2 – f : R −→ R; add: R2 −→ R
Functions

I Consider the function f : Z −→ Z defined as follows: f (a) = a

if a ≥ 0, f (a) = −a if a ≤ 0.
I The range of this function is actually a subset of Z.
I When a function exhausts all elements of the range, it is said
to be onto.
I Can specify a function by either giving a procedure for
computing the output, or giving a table that lists inputs and
corresponding output.
n f (n)
0 1
I e.g. 1 2
2 3
3 4
4 0
I f : Z5 −→ Z5 , f (n) = (n + 1) mod 5
Functions
I Consider the general case f : A1 × A2 × . . . × Ak −→ B i.e
f (a1 , a2 , . . . , ak ) = b
I k is the arity of the function
I A function with an arity k is called a k-ary function
I 1-ary – unary, 2-ary – binary, etc
I Prefix notation – e.g add(a, b)
I Infix notation – e.g. a + b
I Predicate/property – a function whose range is {TRUE,
FALSE}
I e.g. even: Z −→ {TRUE, FALSE}
I even(8) = TRUE, even(21) = FALSE
I Given a set A, relation on A is a predicate whose domain is
Ak
I Also called a k-ary relation
I Binary relations typically use infix notaton. e.g. 3 < 5
Relations

I Given R a binary relation on set A, when we write aRb, we

mean aRb = TRUE
I e.g. 3 < 5 means 3 < 5 = TRUE
I In general if R is a k-ary relation on A, then R(a1 , a2 , . . . , ak )
means R(a1 , a2 , . . . , ak ) = TRUE
Graphs

I Defn A graph G = (V , E )
I D is a set of vertices/nodes
I E = D 2 is a set of edges - Can think of it as a line connecting
two nodes
I undirected/directed
I Undirected graphs
I Degree
I Labelled graph
I Defn. A subgraph, H = (V 0 , E , ) of a graph G = (V , E ) is a
graph such that V 0 ⊆ V and edges of H are edges of G on
corresponding nodes.
Graphs

I Path
I Simple Path
I Cycle
I Simple Cycle
I Connected graph
I tree
I root
I leaves
Graphs

I Directed graph
I Indegree/outdegree
I Directed path
I Strongly connected
Strings and Languages

I Defn. An alphabet is any nonempty finite set.

I Members of an alphabet are called symbols
I Notation Use Σ or Γ to denote an alphabet
I e.g.
Σ1 = {a,b}
Σ2 = {0, 1}
Γ = {a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,j,k,l,m,n,o,p,q,r,s,t,u,v,w, x,y,z}
I Defn. A string over an alphabet is a sequence of symbols
drawn from the alphabet.
I Uses different notation from regular sequences
– no parentheses
– and no separator
Strings and Languages

I e.g. Let Σ = {a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,j,k,l,m,n,o,p, q,r,s,t,u,v,w,x,y,z}

Then paground is a string over Σ
I If w is a string over Σ, then the length of w , denoted |w | is
the number of symbols in w
I An empty string, denoted ε, has no symbols
– |ε| = 0
I If |w | = n, we can write w = w1 w2 · · · wn , where each wi ∈ Σ
I w R = wn wn−1 · · · w1
Strings and Languages

I Let x = x1 x2 · · · xn and y = y1 y2 · · · ym be strings. Then the

concatenation of x and y , xy = x1 x2 · · · xn y1 y2 · · · ym
I In general xy 6= yx
k
I xk
z }| {
= xx · · · x
I Defn. A string h is a substring of a string w if h appears
consecutively in w
I e.g. gram is a substring of programmer
I Lexicographic ordering
I Defn. A language is a set of strings.
Boolean Logic

I ¬ – Negation (NOT)
p ¬p
T F
F T

I ∧– Conjunction (AND)
p q p∧q
T T T
T F F
F T F
F F F
Boolean Logic

I ∨– Disjunction (OR)
p q p∨q
T T T
T F T
F T T
F F F

I ⇒– Implication
p q p⇒q
T T T
T F F
F T T
F F T
Boolean Logic

I ⇔– Equality
p q p⇔q
T T T
T F F
F T F
F F T

I ⊕– Exclusive Or (XOR)
p q p⊕q
T T F
T F T
F T T
F F F
Boolean Logic

I All Boolean operations can be expressed AND and NOT

operations
I Some identities
p∨q ¬(¬p ∧ ¬q)
p⇒q ¬p ∨ q
p⇔q (p ⇒ q) ∧ (q ⇒ p)
p⊕q ¬(p ⇔ q)
I Distributive laws
– AND distributes over OR
– OR distributes over AND