Mathematical Language and Symbols

THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS

Mathematical Language and Symbols

ERIC G. LAURON, M.Sc.

General Education Curriculum
Northern Bukidnon State College

February 22, 2022

Eric G. Lauron, M.Sc. THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS Mathematical Language a

Mathematical Language and Symbols
Characteristics of Mathematical Language

Mathematics as a language has its own symbols, the same way

the English or Greek languages have their own alphabet.
As a language, Mathematics is:
1 Precise- able to make fine distinctions or definitions
among the set of mathematical symbols.
2 Concise-can express long expositions briefly using the
language of mathematics.
3 Powerful- one can express complex thoughts with relative
ease.

Eric G. Lauron, M.Sc. THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS Mathematical Language a

Mathematical Language and Symbols
Common Mathematical Symbols

Since mathematics as a language is a expressed in symbols, we

may encounter some of the common symbols used.
The following are common symbols:

⇐⇒ if and only if
X
the sum of R set of Real Numbers
∃ there exists C set of Complex Numbers
∀ for all N set of Natural Numbers
∈ element Z set of Integers
∈/ not an element Q set of rational Numbers
0
⊂ proper subset Q set of irrational Numbers
⊆ subset or equal
Eric G. Lauron, M.Sc. THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS Mathematical Language a
Mathematical Language and Symbols
Basic concepts of sets, functions and binary operations

Definition (Set)
A set is a collection of well-defined distinct objects.

Example
The following are examples of a set:
1 The collection of all municipalities in the Philippines.
2 The collection of the names of the males in a classroom.
3 The set of all car models.
4 The set of all subjects you take this semester.

Example
The following is not a sets:
1 The set of all goodlooking classmates in your block.
Eric G. Lauron, M.Sc. THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS Mathematical Language a
Mathematical Language and Symbols
Basic concepts of sets, functions and binary operations

Sets as usually denoted by uppercase English letters. A

distinct object in a set is referred to as element and is usually
denoted by a lowercase English alphabet.
Example
Let A be the set of all municipalities in the Philippines.
Denote Manolo Fortich as a. Since Manolo Fortich is a
municipality in the Philippines, then we can write;

a ∈ A.

Eric G. Lauron, M.Sc. THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS Mathematical Language a

Mathematical Language and Symbols
Basic concepts of sets, functions and binary operations

Remark
The symbol ∈ denotes that a is in A or a is a
member/element of A.

Remark
If an element x is not a member or not in the collection of the
set X , then we say
x∈/ X.

Remark
In case that a set A does not contain any elements, we say
that A is an empty set or null set denoted by ∅.
Note: Do not be confuse of the X,A,x,a or whatever letters,
they are just symbols.
Eric G. Lauron, M.Sc. THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS Mathematical Language a
Mathematical Language and Symbols
Basic concepts of sets, functions and binary operations

Example
Let V be the collection of vowels in the English alphabet.
Then we can write the set V as:

V = {a, e, i, o, u}.

This is because, the elements a, e, i, o, u are the vowels in the

English alphabet.

Eric G. Lauron, M.Sc. THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS Mathematical Language a

Mathematical Language and Symbols
Basic concepts of sets, functions and binary operations

Sets can be written as notation.

Example
Let X be the set of all integers between 0.15 to 5.2. This can
be written as

X = x ∈ Z : 0.15 ≤ x ≤ 5.2. (1)

The elements of X are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Hence, we can write X as

X = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}. (2)

Equation (2) is called the Roster or Tabular form while

Equation (1) is called the Rule or Set builder form.

Eric G. Lauron, M.Sc. THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS Mathematical Language a

Mathematical Language and Symbols
Basic concepts of sets, functions and binary operations

The following are the basic operations in sets:

1 Union(∪)- The union of sets is the set of all elements
belonging to either of the sets.
2 Intersection(∩)- The intersection of sets is the set that
contains all the elements that is common in the sets.
3 Product of Sets(×)- The Cartesian product of two sets is
the set containing the set of all ordered pairs from the
two sets.
4 Complement- The complement of a set A is the set of all
elements in the universal set that is not contained in the
set A.

Eric G. Lauron, M.Sc. THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS Mathematical Language a

Mathematical Language and Symbols
Basic concepts of sets, functions and binary operations

Example
Consider the following sets:
1 A : x ∈ Z+ : x ≤ 6.
2 B: The set of all positive even numbers less than or equal
to 10.
3 C : x ∈ Z : −4 < x < 4.
4 D : Set of all odd numbers from −3 to 5.
5 E : Set of all positive prime numbers less than 7.
Write the sets in Roster form and do the following operations:
0
(i) A ∪ C (iii) D ∩ E (v) (B ∩ D)
(ii) A ∪ E (iv) A × D
Eric G. Lauron, M.Sc. THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS Mathematical Language a
Mathematical Language and Symbols
Basic concepts of sets, functions and binary operations

Solution:
We can write the sets as:
1 A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}
2 B : {2, 4, 6, 8, 10}
3 C : {−3, −2, −1, 0, 1, 2, 3}
4 D : {−1, 1, 3, 5}
5 E : {2, 3, 5}
Now, we will solve
(i) A ∪ C

A ∪ C = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6} ∪ {−3, −2, −1, 0, 1, 2, 3}

= {−3, −2, −1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}
Eric G. Lauron, M.Sc. THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS Mathematical Language a
Mathematical Language and Symbols
Basic concepts of sets, functions and binary operations

Solution:
(ii) A ∪ E

A ∪ E = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6} ∪ {2, 3, 5}
= {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}

(iii) D ∩ E

D ∩ E = {−1, 1, 3, 5} ∩ {2, 3, 5}
= {3, 5}

Eric G. Lauron, M.Sc. THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS Mathematical Language a

Mathematical Language and Symbols
Basic concepts of sets, functions and binary operations

Solution:
(iv) A × D

A × D = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6} × {−1, 1, 3, 5}
= {(1, −1), (1, 1), (1, 3), (1, 5), (2, −1), (2, 1),
(2, 3), (2, 5), (3, −1), (3, 1), (3, 3), (3, 5),
(4, −1), (4, 1), (4, 3), (4, 5), (5, −1), (5, 1),
(5, 3), (5, 5), (6, −1), (6, 1), (6, 3), (6, 5)}
0
(v) (B ∩ D)
0 0
(B ∩ D) = ({2, 4, 6, 8, 10} ∩ {−1, 1, 3, 5})
0
= (∅) = A ∪ B ∪ C ∪ D ∪ E .
Eric G. Lauron, M.Sc. THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS Mathematical Language a
Mathematical Language and Symbols
Basic concepts of sets, functions and binary operations

Definition (Function)
Let A and B be sets. A function is a mapping f : A → B
such that for all a ∈ A, there exists a unique b ∈ B.

Remark
In the function f : A → B, we call the set A as the domain of
the function f and the set B is called as the co-domain of the
function f . The set of elements in B where the elements in A
is mapped is called the range R(f ) of the function f . Hence

R(f ) ⊆ B. (3)

Eric G. Lauron, M.Sc. THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS Mathematical Language a

Mathematical Language and Symbols
Basic concepts of sets, functions and binary operations

Remark
We define R(f ) as

R(f ) = {f (a) : a ∈ A}. (4)

Example
Consider the following mapping:

f : {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5} → R,

defined by
f (x) = x − 2.

Eric G. Lauron, M.Sc. THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS Mathematical Language a

Mathematical Language and Symbols
Basic concepts of sets, functions and binary operations

Example
Consider the following mapping:

f : {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5} → R,

defined by
f (x) = x − 2.

We have the following:

1 f (0) = −2 3 f (2) = 0 5 f (4) = 2

2 f (1) = −1 4 f (3) = 1 6 f (5) = 3

Eric G. Lauron, M.Sc. THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS Mathematical Language a

Mathematical Language and Symbols
Basic concepts of sets, functions and binary operations

1 The domain of said function is {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5}.

2 The co-domain is R.
3 The range is {−2, −1, 0, 1, 2, 3}.

Eric G. Lauron, M.Sc. THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS Mathematical Language a

Mathematical Language and Symbols
Basic concepts of sets, functions and binary operations

Example
Consider the following mapping:

f : Z+ → R+ ,

defined by
f (x) = x.

We have the following:

1 f (1) = 1 3 f (3) = 3 5 f (5) = 5

2 f (2) = 2 4 f (4) = 4 ..
6 .

Eric G. Lauron, M.Sc. THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS Mathematical Language a

Mathematical Language and Symbols
Basic concepts of sets, functions and binary operations

1 The domain of said function is Z+ .

2 The co-domain is R+ .
3 The range is Z+ .

Eric G. Lauron, M.Sc. THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS Mathematical Language a

Mathematical Language and Symbols
Basic concepts of sets, functions and binary operations

Definition
A function f : A → B is one-to-one or injective if for all
elements a, b ∈ A,

a 6= b =⇒ f (a) 6= f (b). (5)

Remark
We can say also that a function f is one-to-one if for all
a, b ∈ A
f (a) = f (b) =⇒ a = b. (6)

Eric G. Lauron, M.Sc. THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS Mathematical Language a

Mathematical Language and Symbols
Basic concepts of sets, functions and binary operations

Definition
A function f : A → B is onto or surjective if for every element
b ∈ B, there exists a ∈ A such that f (a) = b.

Remark
We can say also that a function f is onto if and only if
R(f ) = B, that is

R(f ) ⊆ Band B ⊆ R(f ). (7)

Eric G. Lauron, M.Sc. THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS Mathematical Language a

Mathematical Language and Symbols
Basic concepts of sets, functions and binary operations

Example
Consider again the function:

f : {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5} → R,

defined by
f (x) = x − 2.

Is this one-to-one and onto?

Answer
This is one-to-one since every unique pair of elements in the
domain have a unique value in the co-domain. This is not
onto since the co-domain is not equal to the range.
Eric G. Lauron, M.Sc. THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS Mathematical Language a
Mathematical Language and Symbols
Basic concepts of sets, functions and binary operations

Example
Consider again the function:

f : Z+ → R+ ,

defined by
f (x) = x.

Is this one-to-one and onto?

Answer
This is one-to-one since every unique pair of elements in the
domain have a unique value in the co-domain. This is not
onto since the co-domain is not equal to the range.
Eric G. Lauron, M.Sc. THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS Mathematical Language a
Mathematical Language and Symbols
Basic concepts of sets, functions and binary operations

Example
The function
f : Z+ → Z+
defined by
f (x) = x 2
is not one to since −2 6= 2 but f (−2) = 4 and f (2) = 4, which
means f (−2) = f (−2). This is not an onto function also since
2 ∈ Z+ but there is no element in the domain that yields 2.

Example
The function f : R → R defined by f (x) = −x is both
one-to-one and onto.
Eric G. Lauron, M.Sc. THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS Mathematical Language a
Mathematical Language and Symbols
Basic concepts of sets, functions and binary operations

Exercise
Consider the function

f : Z+ → R

defined by
f (x) = e x .
Find the following:
1 Domain
2 Co-domain
3 Range
4 Is this function one-to-one?
5 Is this function onto?
Eric G. Lauron, M.Sc. THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS Mathematical Language a
Mathematical Language and Symbols
Basic concepts of sets, functions and binary operations

Definition (Binary Operation)

Let S be a set. A binary operation ∗ on a set S is a
mapping f such that

f : S ∗ S → S. (8)

This means that if we take any two elements of S and operate

under the binary operation ∗, the result is still in S.

Eric G. Lauron, M.Sc. THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS Mathematical Language a

Mathematical Language and Symbols
Basic concepts of sets, functions and binary operations

Consider the following examples:

Example
Consider the set of all real numbers R and the operation +
which is the normal addition. We will show that the normal
addition + is a binary operation under the set R.

Solution:
Let a, b ∈ R. Supposed a + b = c, then by the closure of the
real numbers, c ∈ R. Therefore, the normal addition is a
binary operation in R.

Eric G. Lauron, M.Sc. THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS Mathematical Language a

Mathematical Language and Symbols
Basic concepts of sets, functions and binary operations

Example
Consider the set of all integers R and the operation × which is
the normal multiplication. We will show that the normal
multiplication × is a binary operation under the set Z.

Solution:
Let a, b ∈ Z. Supposed a × b = c, then by the closure of the
integers, c ∈ Z. Therefore, the normal addition is a binary
operation in Z.

Eric G. Lauron, M.Sc. THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS Mathematical Language a

Mathematical Language and Symbols
Basic concepts of sets, functions and binary operations

Example
Consider the set of all positive integers Z+ and the operation
− which is the normal subtraction. We will show that the
normal subtraction − is not a binary operation under the set
Z+ .

Solution by Counterexample:
Let 2, 5 ∈ Z+ . Now, 2 − 5 = −3. But −3 is not an
element/member of the positive integers. Therefore, the
normal subtraction is not a binary operation under Z+ .

Eric G. Lauron, M.Sc. THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS Mathematical Language a

Mathematical Language and Symbols
Basic concepts of sets, functions and binary operations

Some Properties of the Binary Operation over R

(i) Closure

For all x, y ∈ R, x + y ∈ R and x × y ∈ R. (9)

(ii) Commutativity

For all x, y ∈ R, x + y = y + x and x × y = y × x. (10)

(iii) Associativity

For all x, y , z ∈ R, (x + y ) + z = x + (y + z) (11)

and (x × y ) × z = x × (y × z).
Eric G. Lauron, M.Sc. THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS Mathematical Language a
Mathematical Language and Symbols
Basic concepts of sets, functions and binary operations

Some Properties of the Binary Operations +, × over R

(iv) Distributivity

For all x, y , z ∈ R, (x + y ) × z = (x × z) + (y × z) (12)

and x × (y + z) = (x × y ) + (x × z).
(v) Has Identity
For any x ∈ R, there exists identity element e such that
e + x = x and e × x = x.
(vi) Inverse Exists
For any x ∈ R, there exists an inverse i such that
x + i = e and x × i = e.

Eric G. Lauron, M.Sc. THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS Mathematical Language a

Mathematical Language and Symbols
Basic concepts of sets, functions and binary operations

Example
(i) Closure

2, 5 ∈ R, 2 + 0 = 7 ∈ R and 2 × 7 = 14 ∈ R. (13)

(ii) Commutativity

5, 1 ∈ R, 5 + 1 = 6 = 1 + 5 and 5 × 1 = 5 = 1 × 5. (14)

(iii) Associativity

1, 2, 3 ∈ R, (1 + 2) + 3 = 3 + 3 = 6 = 1 + 5 = 1 + (2 + 3)
(15)
and (1 × 2) × 3 = 2 × 3 = 6 = 1 × 6 = 1 × (2 × 3).
Eric G. Lauron, M.Sc. THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS Mathematical Language a
Mathematical Language and Symbols
Basic concepts of sets, functions and binary operations

Example
(iv) Distributivity

0, 1, 2 ∈ R, (0 + 1) × 2 = (0 × 2) + (1 × 2) (16)

and 0 × (1 + 2) = (0 × 1) + (0 × 2).

(v) Has Identity

The additive identity is 0 and multiplicative identity is 1.
4 ∈ R, then 0 + 4 = 4 and 1 × 4 = 4.

(vi) Inverse Exists

For any x ∈ R, the additive inverse is −x and the
multiplicative inverse is x1 . 3 ∈ R, then 3 + (−3) = 0 and
3 × 31 = 1.
Eric G. Lauron, M.Sc. THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS Mathematical Language a