Real Analysis by R.

Vittal Rao

Lecture 2: March 06, 2006

2.1 Function from a set to its Power set

We shall first establish the fact that

Proposition 2.1 There cannot be a onto function from a given set

A to its powerset P (A)

To establish this we shall consider an arbitrary function

f : A −→ P (A) Figure 2.1:

and create a subset X of A (that is X ∈ P (A)) such that

X , f (a) ∀ a ∈ A (2.1) Now exactly one of the following two things must happen: a < X
or a ∈ X. If we assume the former
We get the set X as follows. For any given a ∈ A exactly one of the
two possibilities is true. (See Figure 2.1) a<X =⇒ a < f (a) because X = f (a)
=⇒ a ∈ X by definition of X
a ∈ f (a) OR a < f (a)

We shall collect all those a ∈ A for which the second possibility Thus it leads to a contradiction. On the other hand if we assume
holds and form the subset X with these. the latter,

X = a ∈ A : a < f (a) a∈X =⇒ a ∈ f (a) because X = f (a)


(2.2)
=⇒ a < X by definition of X
We shall now show by contradiction that

X , f (a) ∀a ∈ A Thus either assumption leads to contradiction and so X cannot be

equal to f (a) for any a ∈ A and hence there cannot be any onto
Suppose function from A to P (A)
∃ a ∈ A 3 X = f (a)

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2.3 Shroeder - Bernstein’s Theorem 2.3 Shroeder - Bernstein’s Theorem

2.2 Equivalence of Sets

We next introduce the notion of equivalence of sets.

Definition 2.1 We say that a set A is equivalent to a set B when

there exists a one-one and onto function from A to B

We write the above fact as

A∼B

Clearly we have the following

A ∼ A
A∼B ⇔ B∼A
A ∼ B and B ∼ C =⇒ A∼C Figure 2.2:

A nonempty set A is said to be a finite set if there exists a positive

integer n such that (1) A ∼ B1 ⊆ B and B ∼ A1 ⊆ A
A ∼ {1, 2, 3, . . . , n} (2) A ∼ B1 ⊆ B but B / any subset of A
We say that the the number of elements in A is n or the cardinality of
(3) B ∼ A1 ⊆ A but A / any subset of B
A is n. This is written as
|A| = n (4) A / any subset of B and B / any subset of A
An empty set is a finite set having cardinality 0. A set is said to be It can be shown that (4) can never occur. Shroeder and Bernstein
infinite if it is not finite. An infinite set is said to be countably infinite showed that (1) is true if and only if A and B are equivalent. Thus
if it is equivalent to N. Otherwise it is called uncountably infinite. we have

Theorem 2.1 (Shroeder-Bernstein)

If A and B are any two sets such that
2.3 Shroeder - Bernstein’s Theorem
A ∼ B1 ⊆ B and B ∼ A1 ⊆ A
If we want to use the definition to establish the equivalence of two then A ∼ B
sets A and B then we have to find a one-one and onto function
from A to B. But this may in general be difficult. To circumvent This means that if there exists a one-one and onto function from A to a
this problem we use a theorem due to Shroeder and Bernstein. The subset of B and a one-one and onto function from B to a subset of A then
idea is the following. Given any two sets, at the outset there are there must exist a one-one onto function from A to B . We shall now
four possibilities. illustrate the usefulness of this with an example

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2.4 Some Properties of Infinite Sets 2.4 Some Properties of Infinite Sets

Example 2.1 The set of all positive rational numbers is a Consider any infinite set A. Choose an element from A and denote
countably infinite set it by a1 . Then A \ {a1 } is a non empty set, since otherwise A = {a1 }
will be a finite set contradicting the fact that we started with an

m
 infinite set. Hence we can pick up an element a2 ∈ A \ {a1 }. Clearly
N = {1, 2, 3, . . .} and (Q∗ )+ = : m, n ∈ N, (m, n) = 1 a2 ∈ A and a2 , a1 . Thus we have
n
Let {a1 , a2 } ⊂ A
n
 
QN = ,n ∈ N thus QN ⊂ (Q∗ )+
1 Having thus chosen a1 , a2 , . . . , an , we choose an+1 as follows. Look
We define a function F at A \ {a1 , a2 , . . . , an }. This has to be a non-empty set. Hence we can
pick an element an+1 ∈ A \ {a1 , a2 , . . . , an }. Thus we have a sequence
n
F : N → QN as F(n) =
1 a1 , a2 , . . .
Then F is a one-one onto function from N to QN . Now of distince elements in A. Hence the result.
consider
b = {2m 3n } : m, n ∈ N, (m, n) = 1
N Proposition 2.3 Every infinite set is equivalent to a proper subset
of itself
Thus N
b is a subset of N. We now define a function

G : (Q∗ )+ → N
b as G(m, n) = 2m 3n Now let A be any infinite set. By Proposition ?? we can get a
countably infinite subset A1 of A Then
Then G is a one-one onto function from (Q∗ )+ to N.b Thus
A = A1 ∪ A01
we have a one-one onto function F from N to a subset QN of
(Q∗ )+ and a one-one onto function G from (Q∗ )+ to a subset Let
b of N. Thus from Shroeder-Bernstein theorem we have
N A2 = {a1 , a2 , . . .}
e = A2 ∪ A0 . Then A
Let A e is a proper subset of A. We define
(Q∗ )+ ∼ N 1

f : A −→ A
e
Thus the set of all positive rational numbers is a countably
infinite set. as

f (a j ) = a j+1 for every a j ∈ A

2.4 Some Properties of Infinite Sets f (a) = a for every a ∈ A0

We shall next see a very important property of infinite sets (See Figure 2.3).
Then f is one-one and onto A.e Thus A ∼ a proper subset of A
e of
Proposition 2.2 Every Infinite set contains a countably infinite itself. This proves the proposition.
subset

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2.5 Cardinal Numbers 2.5 Cardinal Numbers

Proposition 2.4 A set is infinite if and only if it is equivalent to

a proper subset.

The cardinality corresponding to the infine set N is called ℵ0 . If

a set is finite or countably infinite then it as called a countable set.
From Proposition 2.2 it follows that

ℵ0 < | A |

Figure 2.3: for any infinite set A. Thus ℵ0 is the smallest infinity we can think
of. Let A be any infinite set and P (A) be its powerset. Definie

2.5 Cardinal Numbers F : A → P (A) as F(a) = {a}

We say that two sets A and B have the same cardinality if A ∼ B.
Every set is the concrete realization of the abstract notion of cardinal-
ity. For example the set containing five different types of fruits, and
the set containting of five men are the concrete realizations of the
abstract cardinality ”5”. If A ∼ B then we write
|A| = |B|
and say that the cardinality of A is equal to the cardinality of B. If
A ∼ a subset of B and B / any subset of A
then we write
|A| < |B|
If
A ∼ a subset of B then we write | A | ≤ | B |
We have for any two sets A and B the law of trichotomy
The function F is one-one. Let S be the set of all singleton subsets
of A then S ⊂ P (A) and F is a one-one onto function from A to S.
Thus
A ∼ a subset of P (A)
Also from Proposition ?? it follows that
P (A) / any subset of A
Because if it were, then by Shroeder-Bernstein theorem, (Theo-
rem 2.1) we would have A ∼ P (A), which would mean that there
should be a one-one onto function from A to P (A) violating Propo-
sition 2.1. Thus we have
| A | < | P (A) |
for any set A. Thus for any cardinality we can construct a bigger
cardinality. If

i | A | < | B | OR | A | = n a non negetive number, | P (A) | = 2n

ii | A | = | B | OR In general we represent P (A) as 2A . As above, the cardinality of
iii | A | > | B | P (N) is greater than ℵ0 denoted as

Clearly no finite set can be equivalent to a finite subset (why?). | P (N) | = 2ℵ0
Combining this with Proposition ?? we get