Mathematics – Refresher course - Section 1 Set theory
Symbols:
Logical operators:
𝑝 ∧ 𝑞 means: 𝑝 and 𝑞 𝑝 ⟺ 𝑞 means: 𝑝 is equivalent to 𝑞 or 𝑝 if and only if 𝑞
𝑝 ∨ 𝑞 means: 𝑝 or 𝑞 ~𝑝 means: not 𝑝
𝑝 ⟹ 𝑞 means: 𝑝 implies 𝑞
Quantifiers : Universal quantifier ∀ means “for all”; Existential quantifier ∃ means “there exist(s)”.
Intervals: (𝑎, 𝑏) open interval from 𝑎 to 𝑏; [𝑎, 𝑏] closed interval
1.1 Operations with sets and their basic properties
A is a subset of 𝐵 (A ⊂ B) if and only if ∀𝑥: (𝑥 ∈ 𝐴 ⟹ 𝑥 ∈ 𝐵) ⟺ each element of 𝐴 is also an element of
𝐵.
Remarks
∅ ⊂ A − an empty set ∅ is a subset of every set.
A ⊂ A − each set is a subset of itself.
P(X ) = {A : A ⊂ X} is called a power set (a set of all subsets of the set X ).
𝐴 is equal to 𝐵 (𝐴 = 𝐵) if and only if ∀𝑥: (𝑥 ∈ 𝐴 ⟺ 𝑥 ∈ 𝐵).
𝐴 = 𝐵 ⟺ (𝐴 ⊂ 𝐵 ∧ 𝐵 ⊂ 𝐴) .
Let 𝐴, 𝐵 ⊂ 𝑋,where 𝑋 ≠ ∅ is the universal set.
Union (sum) of the sets A and B: A ∪ B = {x ∈ X ∶ x ∈ A ∨ x ∈ B} .
Intersection (product) of the sets A and B: A ∩ B = {x ∈ X ∶ x ∈ A ∧ x ∈ B}.
Difference (subtraction) between A and B: A\B = {x ∈ X ∶ x ∈ A ∧ x ∉ B}.
Complement to (of) A (with respect to X): Ac = X\A = {x ∈ X ∶ x ∉ A}.
Beata Ciałowicz ~1~
Mathematics – Refresher course - Section 1 Set theory
Remarks
𝑥 ∈ 𝐴 ∪ 𝐵 ⟺ (𝑥 ∈ 𝐴 ∨ 𝑥 ∈ 𝐵),
𝑥 ∈ 𝐴 ∩ 𝐵 ⟺ (𝑥 ∈ 𝐴 ∧ 𝑥 ∈ 𝐵),
𝑥 ∈ 𝐴\𝐵 ⟺ (𝑥 ∈ 𝐴 ∧ 𝑥 ∉ 𝐵),
𝑥 ∈ 𝐴𝑐 ⟺ (𝑥 ∈ 𝑋 ∧ 𝑥 ∉ 𝐴),
Complement to 𝐴 contains all elements of 𝑋 not belonging to 𝐴. According to definition: 𝐴 ∪ 𝐴𝑐 = 𝑋
and 𝐴 ∩ 𝐴𝑐 = ∅. An alternative symbol for 𝐴𝑐 is 𝐴′ .
Sets 𝐴, 𝐵 ⊂ 𝑋 for which 𝐴 ∩ 𝐵 = ∅ (𝐴, 𝐵 having no elements in common) are called disjoint or
mutually exclusive.
Task 1 Find: 𝐴 ∪ 𝐵, 𝐴 ∩ 𝐵, 𝐴\𝐵, 𝐵\𝐴, 𝐴𝑐 , 𝐵 𝑐 for given sets 𝐴 and 𝐵
a) 𝐴 = (−∞, −2) ∪ [3, ∞) 𝐵 = [−4,1).
𝐴∪𝐵 =
𝐴∩𝐵 =
𝐴\𝐵 =
𝐵\𝐴 =
𝐴𝑐 =
𝐵𝑐 =
b) 𝐴 = {𝑥 ∈ ℝ ∶ (𝑥 − 2 < 3) ∨ (2𝑥 ≥ 1 − 𝑥)}, 𝐵 = {𝑥 ∈ ℝ ∶ −2 < 𝑥 ≤ 4}.
𝐴∪𝐵 =
𝐴∩𝐵 =
𝐴\𝐵 =
𝐵\𝐴 =
𝐴𝑐 =
𝐵𝑐 =
Beata Ciałowicz ~2~
Mathematics – Refresher course - Section 1 Set theory
Task 2 Find all relationships between sets of numbers:
ℕ set of natural numbers (positive integers) ℕ = {0,1,2,3, … }
ℤ set of integers ℤ = {… , −3, −2, −1,0,1,2,3, … }
ℚ set of rational numbers ℚ = {𝑎𝑏 ∶ 𝑎 ∈ ℤ ∧ 𝑏 ∈ ℤ\{0}}
ℝ set of real numbers
ℝ+ set of real nonnegative numbers ℝ+ = {𝑎 ∈ ℝ ∶ 𝑎 ≥ 0}
ℝ− set of real nonpositive numbers ℝ− = {𝑎 ∈ ℝ ∶ 𝑎 ≤ 0}
ℝ++ set of real positive numbers ℝ++ = {𝑎 ∈ ℝ ∶ 𝑎 > 0}
ℝ−− set of real negative numbers ℝ−− = {𝑎 ∈ ℝ ∶ 𝑎 < 0}
Basic properties of operations with sets:
Let 𝐴, 𝐵, 𝐶 ⊂ 𝑋.
1. Idempotence Laws 𝐴∪𝐴=𝐴 𝐴∩𝐴 =𝐴
2. Commutative Laws 𝐴∪𝐵 =𝐵∪𝐴 𝐴∩𝐵 =𝐵∩𝐴
3. Associative Laws 𝐴 ∪ (B ∪ 𝐶) = (𝐴 ∪ B) ∪ 𝐶 𝐴 ∩ (B ∩ 𝐶) = (𝐴 ∩ B) ∩ 𝐶
4. Absorption Laws 𝐴 ∪ (A ∩ 𝐵) = 𝐴 𝐴 ∩ (A ∪ 𝐵) = 𝐴
5. Distributive Laws 𝐴 ∪ (B ∩ 𝐶) = (𝐴 ∪ B) ∩ (A ∪ 𝐶) 𝐴 ∩ (B ∪ 𝐶) = (𝐴 ∩ B) ∪ (A ∩ 𝐶)
6. De Morgan Laws (𝐴 ∪ 𝐵)𝑐 = 𝐴𝑐 ∩ 𝐵 𝑐 (𝐴 ∩ 𝐵)𝑐 = 𝐴𝑐 ∪ 𝐵 𝑐
7. Some further laws A∪∅= A
A∩∅=∅
(𝐴𝑐 )𝑐 = 𝐴
(∅)𝑐 = 𝑋
𝐴 ⊂ 𝐵 ⟹ 𝐵 𝑐 ⊂ 𝐴𝑐
Beata Ciałowicz ~3~
Mathematics – Refresher course - Section 1 Set theory
1.2 Cartesian product of sets
Definition Let be given two nonempty sets: 𝐴 ≠ ∅, 𝐵 ≠ ∅.
𝐴 × 𝐵 = {(𝑎, 𝑏): 𝑎 ∈ 𝐴 ∧ 𝑏 ∈ 𝐵} – the Cartesian product of sets 𝐴 and 𝐵 (the cross product; read “A
cross B”) = set of all ordered pairs (𝑎, 𝑏), such that the first element belongs to the set 𝐴, and second
element belongs to the set 𝐵
Remark
𝐴 × 𝐴 = 𝐴2 ,
𝐴 × 𝐵 × 𝐶 = {(𝑎, 𝑏, 𝑐) ∶ 𝑎 ∈ 𝐴 ∧ 𝑏 ∈ 𝐵 ∧ 𝑐 ∈ 𝐶}, (𝑎, 𝑏, 𝑐) triple,
𝐴1 × 𝐴2 × … × 𝐴𝑛 = {(𝑎1 , 𝑎2 , … , 𝑎𝑛 ) ∶ 𝑎𝑖 ∈ 𝐴𝑖 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑖 = 1, 2, … , 𝑛} Cartesian product of 𝑛 sets,
where(𝑎1 , 𝑎2 , … , 𝑎𝑛 ) is 𝑛 −tuple or a vector with 𝑛 components,
For 𝐴1 = 𝐴2 = ⋯ = 𝐴𝑛 = 𝐴: 𝐴1 × 𝐴2 × … × 𝐴𝑛 = 𝐴𝑛 .
ℝ2 = ℝ × ℝ = {(𝑥, 𝑦) ∶ 𝑥 ∈ ℝ ∧ 𝑦 ∈ ℝ} is 2-dimensional real space (Euclidian),
ℝ3 = ℝ × ℝ × ℝ = {(𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧) ∶ 𝑥 ∈ ℝ 𝑦 ∈ ℝ ∧ 𝑧 ∈ ℝ} is 3-dimensional real space,
ℝ𝑛 = ℝ × ℝ × … × ℝ = {𝑥 = (𝑥1 , 𝑥2 , … , 𝑥𝑛 ) ∶ 𝑥𝑖 ∈ ℝ for 𝑖 ∈ {1, … , 𝑛}, 𝑛 ∈ ℕ} is 𝑛 −dimensional
real space (a set of 𝑛 − elementary sequences).
Task 3 Find Cartesian product 𝐴 × 𝐵:
1) 𝐴 = [−2,4], 𝐵 = [−3,1)
2) 𝐴 = {𝑥 ∈ ℝ ∶ 𝑥 ≥ −1}, 𝐵 = {𝑦 ∈ ℝ ∶ 𝑦 > −3}
Beata Ciałowicz ~4~
