SECTION 9

FAMILIES

There are occasions when the range of a function is deemed to be more

important than the function itself. When that is the case, both the
ter• minology and the notation undergo radical alterations. Suppose,
for in• sta.nce, that x is a function from a set I to a set X. (The very
choice of letters indica.tes that something strange is a.foot.) An element
of the do• ma.in I is called an inclez, I is called the index set, the range of
the function is called an indeud set, the function itself is ealled a family,
and the value of the function x atan index i, ca.lled a term of the f&mily, is
denoted by X¡. (This terminology is not absolutely established, but it is one
of the standard choices among related slight variante; in the sequel it and
it alone will be
used.) An unaeceptable but generally accepted way of communieating the
notation and indicating the emphasis is to apeak of a family {x¡} in X,
or
of a family {x,l of whatever the elements of X may be; when necessary,
the index set I is indicated by some sueh parenthetical expression as (i E I).
Thus, for instance, the phrase "a family { A,I of subsets of X" is usua.lly
understood to refer to a function A, from some set I of indices, into <P(X).
lf {A,l is a family of subsets of X, the union of the range of the family
is called the union of the family (A,1, or the union of the sets A,; the
standard notation for it is
U •. r A, or U,
A,,
according as it is or is not important to emphasise the index set l. It
follows immediately from the definition of unions that x e U, A, if and
only if x belongs to A, for at least one i. If I = 2, so tbat the range
of the family {A,l is the unordered pair (Ao, Ad, then U,
A, = A0 U
A1•
Observe that there is no loss of genera.lity in considering families of
sets ínstead of arbitra.ry colleetions of sets; every collection of sets is the
range
3'
Ssc. 9 FAMILlES
35

of sorne family. lf, indeed, e is a collection of sets, let e itself play

the role of the index set, and consider the identity mapping on e in the
role of the family.
The algebraie laws satisfied by the operation of union for paira can be
generalized to arbitrary unions. Suppose, for instance, that { J;} is a
fam•
ily of sets with domain J, say; write K = U; J;, and let {AJ:} be a
family
of sets with domain K. It is then not difficult to prove that
u... K AJ:= U;.J (Uiel¡ Ai);
this is the generalized version of the associative law for unions.
Exercise:
formulate and provea generalized version of the commutative law.
An empty union makes sense (and is empty), but an empty intersection
does not make sense. Except for this triviality, the terminology and nota•
tion for intersections parallels that for unions in every respect. Thus, for
instance, if { Ai} is a non-empty family of sets, the intersection of the
range of the family is called the intersection of the family { Ai}, or the
intersec• tion of the sets Ai; the standard notation for it is
n;.1 Ai or n,
Ai,
according as it is or is not important to emphasize the index set J. (By a
"non-empty family" we mean a family whose domain I is not empty.) It
follows im.m ediately from the definition of intersections that if J ~
J2f, then a necessary and sufficient condition that X belong to ni A, is
that X belong to A, for ali i.
The generalized commutative and associative laws for intersections
can be formulated and proved the same way as for unions, or,
alternatively, De Morgan's laws can be used to derive them from the
facts for unions, This is almost obvious, and, therefore, it is not of much
interest. The in• teresting algebraic identities are the ones that involve
both unions and intersections. Thus, for instance, if { Ai} is a family of
subsets of X and
Be X, then
Bn U, A, = UdB A,)n
ni
and
B u A, = ni
(B u A,);
these equations are a mild generalization of the distributive laws.
ExERCISE. lf both {A,} and {B;} are families of sets, then
<U,A,) n <U;B;) = U,.; (A, n B;)
and
36 NAIVE SET THEORY Ssc. 9

Explanation of notation: a sym.bol such as U,,; is an abbreviation for

Uc,.;>.rx J•
The nota.tion of families is the one norma.lly used in generalizing the
concept of Cartesian product. The Cartesian product of two sets X
and Y was defined as the set of ali ordered pairs (x, y) with x in X and y
in Y. There is a natural one-to-one correspondence between this set and
a cer• tain set of families. Consider, indeed, any particular
unordered pair
{ a, b 1, with a ~ b, and consider the set Z of all families z, indexed
by
{ a, b 1, such that Za E X and Zb E Y. If the function f from Z to X X Y
is defined by f(z) = (za, zb), then f is the promised one-to-one
correspond•
ence. The difference between Z and X X Y is merely a matter of nota•
tion. The generalization of Cartesian products generalizes Z rather than
X X Y itself. (As a consequence there is a little terminological friction
in the passage from the special case to the general. There is no help for
it; that is how mathematical language is in fact used nowadays.) The
generalization is now straightforward. If {X,1 is a family of sets (i el),
the Cartes-ian product of the family is, by definition, the set of all
families
{x,I with x, E X, for each i in l. There are several symbols for the Carte•
sían product in more or less current usage; in this book we shall denote it by

X,.r x, or X, x,.
It is olear tha.t if every X, is equal to one and the same set X, then Xi
X,
= X 1• If / is a pair { a, b 1, with a ~ b, then it is customary to identify
X, .r X, with the Cartesian product X¿ X Xb as defined earlier, and if
I is a singleton {al, then, similarly, we identify X,.r X, with X¿
itself.
Ordered triples, ordered quadruples, etc., may be defined as families
whose index sets are unordered triples, quadruples, etc.
Suppose that {Xil is a family of sets (i E/) and let X be its
Cartesian product. If J is a subset of I, then to each element of X there
corresponds
in a natural way an element of the partial Cartesian product X,.J
Xi.
To define the correspondence, recall that each element x of X is itself a
family { Xi 1, that is, in the last analysis, a function on I; the corresponding
element, say y, of X,.J Xi is obtained by simply restricting that function
to J. Explicitly, we write Yi = Xi whenever i E J. The
correspondence x --+ y is called the projection from X onto X,.J X,; we
shall temporarily
denoteit by ÍJ. If, in particular, J is a singleton, say J = {ji, then
we shall write J; (instead of J¡;¡) for ÍJ. The word "projection" has a
multiple use; if x E X, the value of J; at x, that is x;, is also called the
projection of x onto X;, or, alternatively, the j-coordinate of x. A
function on a Carte-
SEC, 9 FAMILIFS 37

sían product such as X is ealled a function of several variables, and, in

par• ticular, a function on a Cartesian product X,. X Xb is called a
function of two variables.
ExERCISE. Provethat (U;A;) X (U;B;) = U;,; (A; X B;), and
that the same equation holds for intersections (provided that the
domains of the families involved are not empty). Prove also {with
appropriate
provisos about empty families) that íl; X; e X; e Ui Xi for each
in•
dex j and that intersection and union can in fact be characterized as
the
extreme solutions of these inclusions. This means that if X; e Y for
each indexj, then U; X; e Y, and that U; X; is the only set
satisfying
this minimality condition; the formulation for intersections is similar.