Set Theory Concepts

Set – A collection of “elements” (objects, members)

• denoted by upper case letters A, B, etc.
• elements are lower case
• brackets are used to encompass members of a set

A = {a, b, c} aA dA

• sets may be finite or infinite

•  is the empty set,  = {}
•  is a finite set
• U is the universal set, it contains all possible elements
• U may be finite or infinite
 Describing Sets
• Two Ways:
1) Enumeration – list all elements
2) Generation – general expression and condition

Example: The set of all integers between 5 and 13

{5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13}

{x | 5  x  13 and is integral}

{y | 4 < y < 14 and is integral}

 Subsets
• When all elements in A are also elements of B:
A is a “subset” of B
AB
B “contains” or “covers” A
 Otherwise, A  B
 Any set is a subset of U
  is a subset of any set
• If A  B and B  A, then
A=B
• If A  B and A  B then
A is a “proper subset” of B
AB
• The set of subsets of A is the “power set” of A, P(A)
  P(A) and A  P(A)
NOTE: A  A and A  A and   A and A  U
 Some Common Operations
• The “Union” of A and B is A  B
A  B contains elements that are in
set A or in set B or in both sets A and B
A  B ={x | x  A or x  B}

• The “Intersection” of A and B is A  B

A  B contains the common elements that are in
both sets A and B
A  B ={x | x  A and x  B}

• The “Complement” of set A is AC or A

AC contains all elements in U that are not in A
A = AC = U - A
AC={x | x  A and x U}
 Properties of Sets
Idempotence Laws: A  A =A, A  A = A
Commutative Laws: A  B = B  A, A  B = B  A
Associative Laws: A  (B  C) = (A  B)  C,
A  (B  C) = (A  B)  C
Absorption Laws: A  (A  B) = A, A  (A  B)= A
Distributive Laws: A  (B  C) = (A  B)  (A  C) ,
A  (B  C) = (A  B)  (A  C)
Involution Law: A=A
Complement Laws: U = , =U
A  A = U, AA=
Identity Laws: A   = A, AU=A
A  U = U, A=

DeMorgan’s Laws: (A  B) = A  B,
(A  B) = A  B
Venn’s Diagram

A B

C
U
Difference Operation

A B

A = {1,3,5,6,7,8} B = {1,2,3,4,5}

A – B = {6,7,8}
B – A = {2,4}
A  B = {1,3,5}
 Cartesian Product
• 2 elements in a fixed order is a “pair” or “ordered pair”
(a,b)
• n elements in a fixed order is an “n-tuple”
(a1, a2, …. , an)
(a1, a2, …. , an) = (b1, b2, …. , bn) iff ai=bi  i where 1  i  n
• The “cartesian product” or “direct product” of 2 sets A and B
the set of all ordered pairs of A and B
AB
EXAMPLE:
A={0, 1} B ={0, 1, 2}
A  B = {(0,0),(0,1),(1,0),(0,2),(1,1),(1,2)}

• “Cardinality” or “size” of set A is | A |=nA

| A  B | = nA  nB = 2  3 = 6
 Propositional Functions
• A Propositional Function, F(x,y), is Defined on A  B
• Ordered Pair (a,b) Substituted for (x,y) (a,b)  A  B
• F(x,y) Can be a Proposition
(F(x,y) is either true or false, but not both)
EXAMPLE:
x is less than y
x weighs y pounds
x divides y
x is the spouse of y
• A Relation, R, is Defined Over:
1) a set A
2) a set B
3) a proposition F(x,y)
R = (A, B, F(x,y))
if F(a,b) is true then aRb
if F(a,b) is false then aRb
 Set Relations
• If R  A  B , then R is a “binary relation”

EXAMPLE: RAB ai  A bi  B
if (ai,bi) R then ai R bi and “relation R holds”
if (ai,bi) R then ai R bi “relation R does not hold”

• Inverse Relation, R -1, is all pairs in R with reverse order

R -1 = {(bj,ai)|(ai,bj) R }

• R =(A, A, F(x,y)) is an “equivalence relation” on set A if:

1) aRa (reflectivity)
2) If aRb then bRa (symmetry)
3) If aRb and bRc then aRc (transitivity)
a, b, c  A
 Equivalence Relation
• Consider R = (Z, Z, F(x,y)) where Z is the set of all positive
integers and F(x,y) is the Proposition that x = y

R  Z  Z = {(1,1), (2,2), (3,3) ….}

• For any zi Z it is true that zi R zi

Reflectivity is Satisfied

• For any zi, zj  Z, if F(zi,zj) is true then F(zj,zi) is true

Symmetry is Satisfied

• For any zi, zj,zk  Z, if F(zi,zj) and F(zj,zk) then F(zj,zk)

Transitivity is Satisfied

R is an Equivalence Relation over Z

 Set Partitions
• A Partition of A denoted by [a] satisfies:
[a]  A
• Consider a Set of Subsets of A
{A1, A2, …, An}
• The Ai are Partitions of A if:
1) A = A1  A2  …  An
2) Either Ai = Aj or Ai  Aj = (disjoint subsets)

EXAMPLE
• Consider A={1,2,3,…,9,10}, B1={1,3}, B2={7,8,10},
B3={2,5,6} and B4={4,9}
1) A = B1  B2  B3  B4
2) Bi  Bj =   i  j

{B1, B2, B3, B4} are Partitions of A

 Equivalence Class
• R is a “binary relation” over set A
• Partition A into “blocks” such that
[a]={x | a R x, x  A}
• Set [a] is an “equivalence class” of A over R
• An arbitrary element of A is a member of exactly one
equivalence class
• Set of all equivalence classes over R on A is the “quotient
set” of A wrt R
A/R

• The number of equivalence classes “rank” of R

 Equivalence Class Example

• R = (A, A, F(x,y))

• F(x, y) is Proposition that K=x (mod 3), K is a Constant

NOTE: F(x, y)= F(x) in this case, a unary proposition

• A ={0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10}

• [a1]={0,3,6,9}, [a2]={1,4,7,10}, [a3]={2,5,8}

• Each Partition is an Equivalence Class

• A / R ={{0,3,6,9},{1,4,7,10},{2,5,8}}

• Rank of R is 3
 Logic Notation
• “proposition” is a sentence with a clear meaning allowing
its’ evaluation of true or false
• Fire is cold - FALSE
• Let P and Q be propositions
P  Q means that if P holds then Q holds
P  Q means that P is true iff Q is true, or,
P is a “necessary” and “sufficient” condition for Q
• If P  Q :
P is a “sufficient condition” of Q
Q is a “necessary condition” of P
• P  Q does not necessarily mean that Q  P
• Q  P is the “converse” of P  Q
• If P  Q then Q  P
Q  P is the “contraposition” of P  Q
 Refinement
• R1 and R2 are Equivalence Relations over A
• if xR1y  xR2y for x, y A then
R1 is a “refinement” of R2
R1  R2

EXAMPLE:
A={011, 100, 110, 111}
R0=(A,A, F0) R1=(A, A,F1)
R0 and R1 are Equivalence Relations
F0 proposition that all corresponding bits are same
F1 is proposition that right two bits are same
R0={(011,011),(100,100),(110,110),(111,111)}
R1={(011,011),(011,111),(100,100),(110,110),(111,011),(111,111)}

R0 is a refinement of R1 R0  R1
 Definition of a Function
• A and B are sets, f is a function that maps ai A to bj  B
f: A  B
f(ai)=bj
ai f bj
• A is the “domain” of f
• bj is the “value” of function f
• bj = f(ai)B is an “image” of ai  A
• A Relation Rf may be Defined from f
f : A  B, f(ai)= bj iff (ai, bj)  Rf
• f -1 is the “inverse relation” of function f: A  B
• f -1 is NOT, in general, a function
• f -1(bj) IS an “inverse image” of bj

f -1(bj)  A
 Operation
• “unary” operation is a function, f : A A

• “binary” operation is a function, f : A  A  A

(e.g. ai * aj = ak, (ai,aj)  ak)

EXAMPLE
B = {0,1} a,b  B

a=1-a (unary-complement)
ab=a•b (binary-conjunction)
a  b = a + b - (a • b) (binary-disjunction)
a  b = a + b - (2 • a • b) (binary-exclusive OR)
 Ordered Relations
• R is a Binary Relation on A
• For a,b,c  A if the following hold:
1) aRa (Reflexive Law)
2) If aRb and bRa then a=b (Anti-Symmetric Law)
3) If aRb and bRc then aRc (Transitive Law)
• R is said to be a “Partially Ordered Relation”
• Also, if  a,b  A , aRb or bRa then
R is said to be a “Total Order Relation”
• Such ordered relations are denoted as
a R b rather than aRb
 Ordered Sets
• R is a binary Relation on A
• For a,b,c A if the following hold:
1) aRa (Reflexive Law)
2) If aRb and bRa then a=b (Anti-Symmetric Law)
3) If aRb and bRc then aRc (Transitive Law)
• R is said to be a “Partially Ordered Relation”
• Also, if  a,b  A , aRb or bRa then
• R is said to be a “Total Order Relation”
• Such ordered relations are denoted as
a R b rather than aRb
• An ordered set consists of an order relation and the set over
which it is defined
 A, R 
 Hasse Diagrams
• R is a binary Relation on A
• For a,b,c  A such that a R b and a  b
if there is no element c such that a R c, c R b
where a  b  c then b “covers” a

• Hasse Diagrams are useful for visualizing cover

characteristics
• Covering elements appear ABOVE Covered elements
and are connected by a line
• “Maximal Elements” are those which are NOT
Covered
• “Minimal Elements” are those which do NOT cover
any other Elements
 Hasse Diagram Examples

1 (1,1)
a b

(0,1) (1,0)
c
0
(0,0)
d
(1,1) is the maximal element
1 is the maximal element
(0,0) is the minimal element
0 is the minimal element
e f
a and b are the maximal elements
c is the greatest lower bound of {a, b}
e and f are the minimal elements
d is the least upper bound of {e, f}
 Least Upper Bound,
Greatest Lower Bound
Let  A, R  be an ordered set and let B  A

• a  A is Upper Bound of B if b R a,  b  B
• a  A is Lower Bound of B if a R b,  b  B

• If there is a minimum element in the set of the upper

bounds of B, then it is the Least Upper Bound of B
(denoted by a  b )

• If there is a maximum element in the set of the lower

bounds of B, then it is the Greatest Upper Bound of B
(denoted by a • b )