Azerbaijan State Oil

and Industral University

Discrete Mathematics
and Its Applications
 Basic Structures: Sets, Functions,
Sequences, Sums, and Matrices
SETS:
Definition 1: A set is an unordered collection of
objects, called elements or members of the set. A
set is said to contain its elements.We write a ∈ A
to denote that a is an element of the set A. The
notation a ∈ A denotes that a is not an element of
the set A.
Example 1: The set V of all vowels in the
English alphabet can be written as V = {a,
e, i, o, u}. ▲

Example 2: The set of positive integers less

than 100 can be denoted by {1, 2, 3, . . . , 99}.
▲
 Another way to describe a set is to use set
builder notation. For instance, the set O of all
odd positive integers less than 10 can be written
as
O = {x | x is an odd positive integer less than
10},
or, specifying the universe as the set of positive
integers, as O = {x ∈ Z+ | x is odd and x < 10}.
The set Q+ of all positive rational numbers can be written as
Q+ = {x ∈ R | x = p q , for some positive integers p and q}.
These sets, each denoted using a boldface letter, play an
important role in discrete mathematics:

N = {0, 1, 2, 3, . . .}, the set of natural numbers

Z = {. . . ,−2,−1, 0, 1, 2, . . .}, the set of integers
Z+ = {1, 2, 3, . . .}, the set of positive integers
Q = {p/q | p ∈ Z, q ∈ Z, and q = 0}, the set of rational numbers
R, the set of real numbers

R+, the set of positive real numbers

C, the set of complex numbers.
Intervals of real numbers. When a and b are real
numbers with a < b, we write
[a, b] = {x | a ≤ x ≤ b};
[a, b) = {x | a ≤ x < b} ;
(a, b] = {x |a < x ≤ b};

(a, b) = {x |a < x < b}

Note that [a, b] is called the closed interval from
a to b and (a, b) is called the open interval from
Definition 2: Two sets are equal if
and only if they have the same
elements. Therefore, if A and B are
sets, then A and B are equal if and
only if ∀x(x ∈ A ↔ x ∈ B).We write
A = B if A and B are equal sets.
THE EMPTY SET. There is a special set that has
no elements. This set is called the empty set, or
null set, and is denoted by ∅. The empty set can
also be denoted by { } . A set with one element is
called a singleton set. A common error is to
confuse the empty {∅} has one more element
than ∅. set ∅ with the set {∅}, which is a singleton
set. The single element of the set { ∅} is the
empty set itself!
Venn Diagrams
Sets can be represented graphically using Venn
diagrams, named after the English
mathematician JohnVenn, who introduced their
use in 1881. InVenn diagrams the universal set
U, which contains all the objects under
consideration, is represented by a rectangle.
Inside this rectangle, circles or other
geometrical figures are used to represent sets.
EXAMPLE 7: Draw a Venn diagram that represents V,
the set of vowels in the English alphabet.
Solution:We draw a rectangle to indicate the universal
set U, which is the set of the 26 letters of the English
alphabet. Inside this rectangle we draw a circle to
represent V .
Inside this circle
we indicate the
elements of V with
points
Subsets

Definition 3: The set A is a subset of B

if and only if every element of A is
also an element of B.We use the
notation A ⊆ B to indicate that A is a
subset of the set B.
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.
Theorem 1 shows that every nonempty set
S is guaranteed to have at least two
subsets, the empty set and the set S itself,
that is, ∅ ⊆ S and S ⊆ S.

THEOREM 1 : For every set S,

(i ) ∅ ⊆ S and

(ii ) S ⊆ S.
Venn diagrams can be used to
illustrate that a set A is a subset of a
set B. We draw the universal set U as a
rectangle.Within this rectangle we
draw a circle for B. Because A is a
subset of B, we draw the circle for A
within the circle for B.
Showing Two Sets are Equal To show that two
sets A and B are equal, show that A ⊆ B and B ⊆
A.
Sets may have other sets as members. For
instance, we have the sets A = {∅, {a}, {b}, {a, b}}
and B = {x | x is a subset of the set {a, b}}.

Note that these two sets are equal, that is, A = B.

Also note that {a} ∈ A, but a /∈ A.
The Size of a Set

Definition 4: Let S be a set. If there are exactly n

distinct elements in S where n is a nonnegative
integer, we say that S is a finite set and that n is the
cardinality of S. The cardinality of S is denoted by |
S|.
Example 10 Let A be the set of odd positive integers
less than 10. Then |A| = 5. ▲

Example 11 Let S be the set of letters in the English

alphabet. Then |S| = 26. ▲
Definition 5: A set is said to be infinite
if it is not finite.
Power Sets
Definition 6: 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).
Example 14: What is the power set of the
set {0, 1, 2}?

Solution: The power set P({0, 1, 2}) is the

set of all subsets of {0, 1, 2}. Hence, P({0, 1,
2}) = {∅, {0}, {1}, {2}, {0, 1}, {0, 2}, {1, 2}, {0, 1,
2}}.

Note that the empty set and the set itself

are members of this set of subsets. ▲
Example 15: What is the power set of the empty
set? What is the power set of the set {∅}?
Solution: The empty set has exactly one subset,
namely, itself. Consequently, P(∅) = {∅}. The set
{∅} has exactly two subsets, namely, ∅ and the
set {∅} itself. Therefore, P({∅}) = {∅, {∅}}. ▲
If a set has n elements, then its power set has
elements. We will demonstrate this fact in
several ways in subsequent sections of the text.
Cartesian Products
Definition 7: The ordered n-tuple (a1, a2, . . . , an) is
the ordered collection that has a1 as its first element,
a2 as its second element, . . . , and an as its nth
element. We say that two ordered n-tuples are equal
if and only if each corresponding pair of their
elements is equal. In other words, (a1, a2, . . . , an) =
(b1, b2, . . . , bn) if and only if ai = bi , for i = 1, 2, . . . ,
n. In particular, ordered 2-tuples are called ordered
pairs.
Definition 8: 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}.
Example 17: What is the Cartesian product of A = {1, 2}
and B = {a, b, c}?
Solution: The Cartesian product A × B is
A × B = {(1, a), (1, b), (1, c), (2, a), (2, b), (2, c)}. ▲
Note that the Cartesian products A × B and B × A are
not equal.
Definition 9: The Cartesian product of the
sets A1,A2, . . . , An, denoted by A1 × A2
× ・ ・ ・ ×An, is the set of ordered n-
tuples (a1, a2, . . . , an), where ai belongs to
Ai for i = 1, 2, . . . , n.

In other words,

A1 × A2 × ・ ・ ・ ×An = {(a1, a2, . . . , an) |

ai ∈ Ai for i = 1, 2, . . . , n}.
Example 19: What is the Cartesian product A × B
× C, where A = {0, 1}, B = {1, 2}, and C = {0, 1, 2} ?
Solution: The Cartesian productA × B × C
consists of all ordered triples (a, b, c), where a ∈
A, b ∈ B, and c ∈ C. Hence,
A × B × C = {(0, 1, 0), (0, 1, 1), (0, 1, 2), (0, 2, 0), (0,
2, 1), (0, 2, 2), (1, 1, 0), (1, 1, 1), (1, 1, 2), (1, 2, 0), (1,
2, 1), (1, 2, 2)}. ▲
We use the notation to denote A × A, the
Cartesian product of the set A with itself.
Similarly, = A × A × A, = A × A × A × A, and so
on. More generally,

= {(a1, a2, . . . , an) | ai ∈ A for i = 1, 2, . . . , n}.

Example 20 Suppose that A = {1, 2}. It follows
that = {(1, 1), (1, 2), (2, 1), (2, 2)} and =
{(1, 1, 1), (1, 1, 2), (1, 2, 1), (1, 2, 2), (2, 1, 1), (2, 1,
A subset R of the Cartesian product A
× B is called a relation from the set A
to the set B. The elements of R are
ordered pairs, where the first element
belongs to A and the second to B.
Using Set Notation with Quantifiers

Sometimes we restrict the domain of a

quantified statement explicitly by making
use of a particular notation. For example,
∀x∈S(P(x)) denotes the universal
quantification of P(x) over all elements in
the set S.
Example 22: What do the statements ∀x∈R (x2 ≥ 0) and
∃x∈Z (x2 = 1) mean?
Solution: The statement ∀x∈R(x2 ≥ 0) states that for
every real number x, x2 ≥ 0. This statement can be
expressed as “The square of every real number is
nonnegative.” This is a true statement. The statement
∃x∈Z(x2 = 1) states that there exists an integer x such
that x2 = 1. This statement 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). ▲
Thank you for attention!