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Episode 2: Mathematical Preliminaries

The document discusses mathematical preliminaries including sets, sequences, functions, relations, strings, predicates, and characteristic functions. It also briefly mentions graphs, definitions, proofs, theory of computation, and logic as expected background knowledge.

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Sarbu Ana
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43 views8 pages

Episode 2: Mathematical Preliminaries

The document discusses mathematical preliminaries including sets, sequences, functions, relations, strings, predicates, and characteristic functions. It also briefly mentions graphs, definitions, proofs, theory of computation, and logic as expected background knowledge.

Uploaded by

Sarbu Ana
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Episode 2

Mathematical preliminaries

• Sets
• Sequences
• Functions
• Relations
• Strings

0
2.1
Sets
Set --- any collection of distinct objects.
• E={2,4,6,8,…}, or
Describing a set: • E={x | x is a positive integer divisible by 2}, or
• E={x | x=2k for some positive integer k}, etc.

Set-related terminology and notation:

aE --- “a is an element of E”, or “a is in E”


aE --- “a is not an element of E”, or “a is not in E”
ST --- “S is a subset of T”
i.e. every element of S is also an element of T
ST --- “the intersection of S and T ”
i.e. the set of the objects that are both in S and T
ST --- “the union of S and T ”
i.e. the set of the objects that are in either S or T or both
 --- “the empty set”
2.2
Sequences, tuples, products

A sequence is a finite or infinite list.


E.g.: 1,1,2,1,2,3,1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4,5,… is a sequence of natural numbers

An n-tuple is a sequence with n elements.


E.g.: (5,2) --- 2-tuple (pair)
(3,0,3) --- 3-tuple (triple)
(1,2,1,2) --- 4-tuple (quadruple)

! {1,2,2} = {1,2} = {2,1}, but


(1,2,2)  (1,2)  (2,1)

The product of sets S and T is defined by

ST = {(s,t) | sS and tT}

Generalizes to S1...Sn
2.3
Functions
Function (often also called an operation) f from set A to set B --- assignment of a
unique element f(a)B to each aA
A B
the range of f
the domain of f f 1
a
2
b
3
c 4

f: A  B the type of f

N --- natural numbers: {0,1,2,…} R --- rational numbers: {0/1, 5/1, 1/3, 8/5, etc.}
If x,y always take values from N, what are the types of f, g, h?

f(x) = 2x g(x) = x/2 h(x,y) = x+y

f: N  N g: N  R h: NN  N
2.4
Relations

Let A be a set and n be a natural number. An n-ary relation on A is


any subset of An (An means A...A n times).

When n=1, the relation is said to be unary; when n=2, it is said to be


binary; when n=3, it is said to be ternary.

Example: < is a binary relation on N:

(3,1)
(1,3) (6,20)
(12,32) ... (4,4)

< (100,39)

...
NN
2.5
Predicates; characteristic functions

Throughout this course, by a predicate we will try to exclusively mean


a unary relation.

In the literature, the words “predicate” and “relation” are usually used
as synonyms. This is OK: after all, every n-ary relation on A can as
well be thought of as a unary relation (predicate) on An.

Furthermore, we will see no difference between predicates and sets.


Indeed, by definition, a predicate (or a relation in general) is nothing
but a set.
Let A be a set and P be a predicate on it. The characteristic function
of P is defined as the function p: A{0,1} such that, for every wA,
1 if wP;
p(w) = 0 if wP.

Often we further identify predicates with their characteristic functions.


2.6
Strings

Alphabet --- a finite set of objects called the symbols of the alphabet.
{a,…,z,0,...,9,!,?,$,>,#,...} --- Keyboard alphabet.
{0,...,9} --- Decimal alphabet. Its elements are called decimal digits.
{0,1} --- Binary alphabet. Its elements are called bits (binary digits).

String over an alphabet  --- a sequence of symbols from .


Decimal strings: 2007, 12144, etc.
Binary strings (bit strings): 1001, 00000, 011, etc.
Finite strings: abracadabra, 厦门大学, etc.
Infinite strings: 00000..., 101010..., etc.
The empty string is denoted by .
The set of all strings over alphabet  is denoted by *.
The Concatenation wu of strings w and u is the result of appending
u at the end of w. Defined only when w is finite.
2.7
What else you need

You are expected to have some basic knowledge and experience with:

• Graphs

• Mathematical definitions and proofs

• Theory of computation

• Logic

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