MATH 206 (2020/2021)

– Discrete Mathematics -

Course Contents:

Review of the following:

Set theory, Mapping, Cartesian products, Relations, Ordered pairs, equivalence and partitions

Operations on Boolean algebra, Lattice and logic with emphasis on Graphs and Graph Theory, Matrices
associated with graph. Minimum weight, spanning trees, isomorphism, integer and real matrices, Boolean
matrices, path and adjacency matrices.

Application to counting, discrete probability and generating functions.

Recommended Texts:

Introduction:

Discrete Mathematics is the part of mathematics devoted to the study of discrete objects. The kind of
problems solved using discrete mathematics includes:

- How many ways are there to choose a valid password on a computer system?
- How can a circuit that adds two integers be designed?
- What is the shortest path between two cities using transportation system?

Discrete Mathematics is the gateway to more advanced courses in all parts of the mathematical science. It
provides the mathematical foundation for many computer science courses including data structures,
algorithms, database theory, compiler theory, computer security and operating systems.

REVIEW ON SET THEORY

A set is a collection of distinct objects. Sets are often specified with curly brace notation. The set of even
integers can be written as { 2n : n is an integer}

The opening and closing curly braces denote a set, 2n specifies the members of the set, the colon says
“such that” or “where” and everything following the colon are conditions that explain or refine the
membership. All correct mathematics can be spoken in English. The set definition above is spoken “The
set of twice n where n is an integer”.
A set is denoted or represented by a capital letter. For example, A, B, S, V, etc., and the members of a set
are enclosed in curly brackets, { } as stated earlier. The set membership symbol ∈ , is used to say
that an object is a member of a set

Description of sets
There are several ways to describe a set. A set may be described by:
1. Listing its elements P = {2,3,5,7,11}

e.g The set of natural numbers less than 100 can be denoted by {1,2,3,...,99}
2. Giving a word description of its members or defining a property of the set.

e.g the set P above can be written as P = { prime numbers less than 12}

3. Using a set builder notation.

e.g The set P = {2,3,5,7,11} can be written as P = {x : 1 < x < 12 , where x is a prime number}

A set can also be represented graphically using Venn diagrams. The Venn diagram is often used to
indicate the relationships between sets.

Types of sets

Null or empty set

The empty set is a set containing no objects. It is written as a pair of curly braces with nothing
inside { } or φ

Equal set

Two sets are equal if and only if they have the same elements.

Universal set

The universal set, at least for a given collection of set theoretic computations, is the set of all
possible objects

Unit set

A unit set is a set which has only one member

Cardinality

The cardinality of a set is its size. For a finite set, the cardinality of a set is the number of
members it contains. In symbolic notation the size of a set S is denoted by S

e.g For the set S = {1, 4, 5} we show cardinality by written S = 3 .

Subsets

The set A is said to be a subset of B if and only if every element of A is also an element of B.
We now move on to a number of operations on sets. You are already familiar with several
operations on numbers such as addition, multiplication, and nega- tion.

The intersection of two sets S and T is the collection of all objects that are in both sets.

It is written S ∩ T . Using curly brace notation

S ∩ T = {x : (x ∈ S) and (x ∈ T )}

The symbol and in the above definition is an ex- ample of a Boolean or logical operation. It
is only true when both the propositions it joins are also true. It has a symbolic equivalent ∧.
This lets us write the

S ∩ T = {x : (x ∈ S) ∧ (x ∈ T )}

If A and B are sets and A ∩ B = φ then we say that A and B are disjoint, or disjoint sets.

The union of two sets S and T is the collection of all objects that are in either set. It
is written S ∪ T . Using curly brace notion

S ∪ T = {x : (x ∈ S) or (x ∈ T )}

The symbol or is another Boolean operation, one that is true if either of the propositions it joins
are true. Its symbolic equivalent is which lets us re-write the definition of union as:
S ∪ T = {x : (x ∈ S) ∨ (x ∈ T )} ∨