AN INTRODUCTION TO MATHEMATICAL ANALYSIS FOR ECONOMIC

THEORY AND ECONOMETRICS

(CORBAE, D.; STINCHCOMBE, M.; ZEMAN, J.)

LIST 2: CHAPTER 2 - SET THEORY - PART A

Exercise 2.2.5: Prove Theorem 2.2.4 from Theorem 1.3.2 [See Figure 2.2.4. The
proof amounts to applying the logical connectives and above definitions: to show A ∩ B =
B ∩ A, it is sufficient to note that x ∈ A ∩ B ⇔ (x ∈ A) ∧ (x ∈ B) ⇔ (x ∈ B) ∧ (x ∈
A) ⇔ x ∈ B ∩ A.]

Exercise 2.2.7: Finish the proof of Theorem 2.2.6.

Exercise 2.3.13: For A = B = [0, 1], draw three different correspondences from A
to B that are not functions.

Exercise 2.3.14: Explicitly give four relations in Example 2.3.6 (p.23) as functions
from A to P(A).

Exercise 2.4.4: Show that congruence modulo 4 is an equivalence relation.

Exercise 2.4.10: For a partition, C of A, define ∼C by x∼C y iff x and y belong to

same element of C. Show that ∼C is an equivalence relation.

Exercise 2.5.3: In Example 2.3.6 (p.23), show that ≤ is complete and transitive, that
< and = are transitive but not complete, and that 6= is neither transitive nor complete.
Check that the relation % given later in Example 2.5.6 is complete but not transitive.

Exercise 2.5.5: Show that x ∼ y is an equivalence relation if % is rational.

Exercise 2.5.7: Give the graphical representation %, , and ∼ for the complete tran-
sitive preferences satisfying c  f ∼ b  p.

Exercise 2.5.8: Give the relation ∼ associated with the preferences given in Exam-
ple 2.5.6. Is ∼ an equivalence relation? Can it reasonably be interpreted as indifference?

Exercise 2.5.10: Show that u represents % iff [x % y] ⇔ [u(x) ≥ u(y)].

Exercise 2.5.18: What is left to be proved in Theorem 2.5.17? Provide the missing
step(s).
S
Exercise 2.6.2: Show that if E ⊂ A and f is a function mapping
S AtoB, then f (E) = a∈E f (a),
and if G is a correspondence mapping A to B, then G(E) = a∈E G(a). [See Figure 2.6.2]

Graduate in Economics Program - UFSCar-Sorocaba

Exercise 2.6.3: Consider functions f, g : R → R, f (x) = x2 and √ g(x) = x3 .√Clearly
f =(R) is contained in the positive real numbers. For every r ≥ 0, f ( r) = f (− r) = r,
shows that all real numbers appear in the range of g, that is, g(R) = R.

Exercise 2.6.5: Prove Theorem 2.6.4 and give examples in which subset relations are
proper.

Exercise 2.6.6: Find and prove the analogue of Theorem 2.6.4 when the function f is
replaced with a correspondence G, giving examples with the subset relations being proper.

Exercise 2.6.11: Just to be sure that the notation is clear, prove the following and
illustrate the results with pictures: f (H) = b∈H f (b), projB−1 (H) = A × H, and
−1 −1
S
projA−1 (E) = E × B.

Exercise 2.6.12: Let f : A → B be a function. Define a ∼f a0 if ∃b ∈ B such

that a, a0 ∈ f −1 (b). These equivalence classes are called level sets of the function f .
1. Show that ∼f is an equivalence relation on A.
2. Show that [a ∼f a0 ] ⇔ [f (a) = f (a0 )].
3. Give an example with f, g being different functions from A to B but ∼f =∼g .
4. Prove that the inverse images f −1 (b) and f −1 (b0 ) are disjoint when b 6= b0 . [This means
that indifference curves never intersect.]

Exercise 2.6.14: Finish the proof of Theorem 2.6.13

Exercise 2.6.19: Show that if f : A ↔ B is a bijection between A and B, then the

subset relations in Theorem 2.6.4 (p.34) hold with equality.

Exercise 2.6.24: Prove Theorem 2.6.23.

Exercise 2.6.27: Give an example of functions f, g where f is not onto but g and
g ◦ f are onto. Also give an example where g is not injective, but g ◦ f is injective.

Exercise 2.7.6: Even though the relation ≤ for vector in R2 is not rational because it
is not complete, defining [(x1 , x2 ) ∼ (y1 , y2 )] ⇔ [[(x1 , x2 ) ≤ (y1 , y2 )] ∧ [(y1 , y2 ) ≤ (x1 , x2 )]]
gives an equivalence relation. What is the equivalence relation ?

Exercise 2.7.9: Let X be the nonemptyT subsets og Y , that is, X = P(Y )\∅. De-
fine the relation t on X by AtB if A B 6= ∅. Mnemonically, ”AtB” if ”A touches B”.
For y ∈ Y , let X(y) = A ∈ X : y ∈ A. Which, if any, of the properties given in Table 2.7
(p.39) does the relation t have on X? On X(y)?

−1 ) and that = ( \ ∼).

T
Exercise 2.7.10: Show that ∼= (

Exercise 2.7.15: Show that if x is Pareto efficient, then it is weakly Pareto efficient.
Modify the preferences of person 1 in Example 2.7.14 so that person 1 gains no extra
utility from any pie beyond three-quarters of the pie; that is, three-quarters of the pie
satisfies 1. With these preferences, give an example of an x that is weakly Pareto efficient
but not Pareto efficient.

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Exercise 2.8.2: Show that if A ⊂ B and B is totally ordered, then A is totally or-
dered.

Exercise 2.8.3: Let X = T = R+ and f (x, t) = x − 12 (x − t)2 . Find x∗ (t) and ve-
rify directly that dx∗ /dt > 0. Also find fx , fxx , and fxt and verify, using the sign test just
given, that dx∗ /dt > 0. If you can draw three-dimensional figures (and this is a skill worth
developing), draw f and verify from your picture that fxt > 0 and that it is this fact that
maked dx∗ /dt > 0. To practice with what goes wrong with derivative analysis when there
are corner solutions, repeat this problem with X = R+ , T = R and g(x, t) = x − 12 (x + t)2 .

Exercise 2.8.11: Suppose that (L, -) = (Rn , ≤), x ≤ y iff xi ≤ yi , i = 1, . . . , n. Show

that L is a lattice. Show that f : L → R is supermodular iff it has increasing differences
in xi and xj for all i 6= j. Show that a twice continuously differentiable f : L → R is
supermodular iff ∂ 2 f /∂xi ∂yj ≥ 0 for all i 6= j.

Exercise 2.8.13: Show the following.

1. If f : Rn → R is twice continuously differentiabbe, has a nonnegative gradient, and is
supermodular, and g : R → R is twice continuously differentiable and convex, thn g(f (x))
is increasing and supermodular.
2. If f : [1, ∞) × [1, ∞) → R is defined by f (x1 , x2 ) = x1 + x2 and g(r) = log(r), then f is
supermodular and strictly increasing, while g is strictly increasing and concave. However,
g(f (x)) is strictly supermodular.

Exercise 2.8.15: Show that for intervals, A, B ⊂ R, A -Strong B iff every point in
A \ B is less than every point in A ∩ B, and every point in A ∩ B is less than every point
in B \ A. Also, show that this is true when R is replaced with any linearly ordered set.

Exercise 2.8.19: Complete the proof of Theorem 2.8.18.

Exercise 2.8.21: For (x1 , x2 ) ∈ R2++ , define u(x1 , x2 ) = x1 .x2 and v(x1 , x2 ) = log(u(x1 , x2 )).
1. Show that ∂ 2 u/∂x1 ∂x2 > 0.
2. Show that ∂ 2 v/∂x1 ∂x2 = 0.
3. Find a monotonic transformation, f , of v such that ∂ 2 f (v)/∂x1 ∂x2 < 0. at some point
(x01 , x02 ) ∈ R2++

Exercise 2.8.24: Prove Lemma 2.8.23.

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 Exercise 2.8.26: There are three results that you should know about the relation
between monotonicity and quasi-supermodularity:
1. Strong monotonicity implies quasi-supermodularity, hence supermodularity: Show
that if a binary relation - on a finite lattice X has a strictly increasing representation,
then that representation is quasi-supermodular. [By the Chambers and Echenique result
above, this implies that the binary relation has a supermodular representation.]
2. Weak monotonicity does not imply quasi-supermodularity: Let
X = {(0, 0), (0, 1), (1, 0), (1, 1)} with (x, y) - (x0 , y 0 ) iff u(x, y) ≤ u(x0 , y 0 ). Show that
the utility function u(x, y) = 0 if x = y = 0 and u(x, y) = 1 otherwise is weakly
monotonic, but no monotonic transformation of it is quasi-supermodular.
3. Supermodularity does not imply monotonicity: Let X = {(0, 0), (0, 1), (1, 0), (1, 1)}
with (x, y) - (x0 , y 0 ) iff u(x, y) ≤ u(x0 , y 0 ). Show that the utility function
u(0, 0) = 0, u(0, 1) = −1, u(1, 0) = 2 and that u(2, 2) = 1.5 is strictly supermodular but
not monotonic.

Exercise 2.9.3: A matching u0 is indicated by boldface and the *’s in the following
table, which shows preferences (Ex. 2.2, Roth and Sotomayor 1990).

w2 m1 w1∗ m1 w3 m1 m1 m∗1 w1 m3 w1 m2 w1 w1

w1 m2 w3∗ m2 w2 m2 m2 m∗3 w2 m1 w2 m2 w2 w2
w1 m3 w2∗ m3 w3 m3 m3 m1 w3 m3 w3 m∗2 w3 w3

1. Verify that u0 is stable.

2. Given a matching µ, for each m, define m0 s possibility set as
Pµ (m) = {w ∈ W : m w µ(w)} ∪ {m}. Show that the matching µ0 maximizes each m0 s
preferences over Pµ (m) and maximizes each w0 s preferences over Pµ0 (w). [The
simultaneous optimization of preferences over the available set of options is a pattern we
see repeatedly.]

Exercise 2.9.6: Show that any matching µ induces a fantasy, but fantasies may not
induce matchings. Further, show that a fantasy induces a matching iff
[υM (m) = w] ⇔ [m = υW (w)].

Exercise 2.9.15: Show the following.

1. {(x1 , x2 ) ∈ R2 : x1 ≤ 0 or x2 ≤ 0} ∪ {(x1 , x2 ) ∈ R2 : x1 = x2 } is not a sublattice bus is
a lattice subset.
2. Neither T 0 = {(0, 3), (1, 1), (2, 2), (3, 0)} nor its convex hull are lattice subsets of
(R2 , ≤).
3. The convex hull of {(0, 0), (2, 1), (1, 2), (3, 3)} ⊂ R2 is a sublattice.
4. If C is a convex lattice subset of (Rn , ≤), then it is a sublattice.

Exercise 2.9.20: Prove Lemma 2.9.19 and show that (V, %) is a finite lattice.

Exercise 2.9.23: Show that x∗min is the least fixed point of R.

Exercise 2.9.26: Let X = {0, 1}2 ⊂ R2 with the vector ordering. Define R : X → X
by R((0, 0)) = (0, 0), R((1, 1)) = (1, 1), R((0, 1)) = (0, 1), and R((0, 1)) = (0, 1).

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1. Verify that the set of fixed points is S = {(0, 0), (1, 1)} and that S is a complete
sublattice of X.
2. Find sup X and inf X.
3. Show that R is an increasing map from X to X.
4. If x0 = sup X or x0 = inf X, show that for all n ≥ 1, xn+1 = xn .
5. If x0 = (0, 1) or x0 = (1, 0), show that ¬(∃N )(∀n ≥ N )[xn+1 = xn ].

Exercise 2.9.27 Show that the mapping T : V → V defined previously is increasing.

Conclude that there is a nonempty set of stable matchings and that the stable matchings
form a complete sublattice of V.

Exercise 2.9.28: [↑ Exercise 2.9.3 (p.50)] Show that repeated applications of T to the
men’s favorite fantasy yieds ((w2 , w3 , w1 ), (m3 , m1 , m2 )), whereas repeated applications of
T to the women’s favorite fantasy yields the matching µ’ given earlier.Show that thesetwo
matchings are the largest and smallest fixed point of T . Give the set of all fixed points of T .

Exercise 2.9.29: Show that, for any matching probem if v ∗ satisfies µ∗M = T n (v ∗M ) =
T n+1 (v ∗M ), then µ∗M is the matching that is unanimously weakly preferred by the men to
any stable matching. Formulate and prove the parallel result for µ∗W .

Exercise 2.10.2: Show that Definition 2.10.1really foes define an equivalence relation.

Exercise 2.10.3: In the case, show thaht the sets have the same cardinality by gi-
ving a bijection between them:
1. A = {n2 : n ∈ N} and B = {2n : n ∈ N}.
2. The intervals [0, 1] and [a, b], where a < b.
3. The intervals (0, 1) and (a, b), where a < b.
4 The set of rel numbers and the interval (− π2 , π2 ) [Hint: Think about the tangent function.]

Exercise 2.10.6: Prove Lemma 2.10.5 [Hint: If you get stuck, take a look at the proof
of Theorem 2.5.14.]

Exercise 2.10.11: Prove that a finite union of countable sets is countable. There-
fore, if A is uncountable and B ⊂ A is countable, then A\B is uncountable. [Hint: Let
An be a statement ”a union of n countable sets is countable.”The inductive proof now
reduces to proving that the union of any two countable sets is countable.]

Exercise 2.10.13: Show that if A ∼ A0 and B ∼ B 0 , then A × B ∼ A0 × B 0 . [Let

f : A ↔ A0 and g : B ↔ B 0 be bijections, and check properties of the mapping
(a, b) 7→ (f (a), f (b)).] Using this and previous results about N and Z, show that Z×Z ∼ N.

Exercise 2.10.17: Show that any interval [a, b] where a < b has the same cardina-
lity as R.

Exercise 2.12.6: Suppose that x - y - z - z. Show that x ∼T y ∼T z.

Exercise 2.12.7: Show that x ∗T y iff there exists a finite collection x = x1 ∗ · · · ∗
xn = y.

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Exercise 2.13.2: Give the rank of the following sets in V (S), S = R explaining your
reasoning: N, P(N); the set of all fields of subsets of R; the set of all R-valued sequences.

Exercise 2.13.4: Verify that if S = R, then everything in the sequence (R, P(R), P(P(R)), · · ·)
is a set and does not belong to itself. From this, prove Lemma 2.13.3.

Exercise 2.15.1: The following refers to §2.5: If Ri , i ∈ I, is a collection of transi-

tive relations, then ∩i∈I Ri , is transitive. For any relation S, define the transitive closure
of S as ∩{R : S ⊂ R, transitive}. If S is a relation that does not satisfy transitivity, then
its transitivity closure if the smallest transitive relations consistent with S that satisfies
transitivity. Find the transitive closure of the intransitivite relation in the Example 2.5.6.
Show (by example) that there is not a unique smallest complete relation containing a
given relation S. This means that there is not a good definition of the complete closure
of a relation.

Exercise 2.15.2: Let f : A → B be a function Prove that the following statements

are equivalente:
1. f is one-to-one on A.
2. f (C ∩ D) = f (C) ∩ f (D) for all subsets C and D of A.
3. f −1 [f (C)] = C for everu subset C of A.
4. For all disjoint subsets C and D of A, the images f (C) and f (D) are disjoint.
5. For all subsets C and D of A with D ⊆ C, we have f (C\D) = f (C)\f (D).

er
Exercise 2.15.3: Define Φ(r) = 1+e r and define f (x, t) = Φ(x − t) for x, t ∈ R (Φ(·) is

called the logistic cumulative distribution function). Show the following:

1. f (·, ·) is not supermodular.
2. Is S = [−10, −1] an S 0 = [−10, 0], then S -Strong S 0 and forr all t, M (t, S 0 ) > M (t, S).
3. M (t, S) is nondecreasing in (t, S) for (t, S) with M (t, S) 6= ∅.
4. f (·, ·) is quasi-supermodular.
5. By modifying f (·, ·), one can make f (·, ·) fail to be quasi-supermodular without chan-
ging M (t, S 0 ) > M (t, S) for many values of t.