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Discrete Mathematics: Alexander Bukharovich New York University
Discrete Mathematics: Alexander Bukharovich New York University
Lecture 5
Alexander Bukharovich
New York University
Basics of Set Theory
• Set and element are undefined notions in the set theory and
are taken for granted
• Set notation: {1, 2, 3}, {{1, 2}, {3}, {1, 2, 3}}, {1, 2, 3,
…}, , {x R | -3 < x < 6}
• Set A is called a subset of set B, written as A B, when
x, x A x B
• A is a proper subset of B, when A is a subset of B and x
B and x A
• Visual representation of the sets
• Distinction between and
Set Operations
• Set a equals set B, iff every element of set A is in set B and
vice versa
• Proof technique for showing sets equality
• Union of two sets is a set of all elements that belong to at
least one of the sets
• Intersection of two sets is a set of all elements that belong
to both sets
• Difference of two sets is a set of elements in one set, but
not the other
• Complement of a set is a difference between universal set
and a given set
Cartesian Products
• Ordered n-tuple is a set of ordered n
elements. Equality of n-tuples
• Cartesian product of n sets is a set of n-
tuples, where each element in the n-tuple
belongs to the respective set participating in
the product
Formal Languages
• Alphabet : set of characters used to construct strings
• String over alphabet : either empty string of n-tuple
of elements from , for any n
• Length of a string is value n
• Language is a subset of all strings over
n is a set of strings with length n over
* is a set of all strings of finite length over
• Notation for arithmetic expressions: prefix, infix,
postfix
Subset Check Algorithm
• Let two sets be represented as arrays A and B
m = size of A, n = size of B
i = 1, answer = “yes”;
while (i m && answer == “yes”) {
j = 1, found = “no”;
while (j n && found == “no”) {
if (a[i] == b[j]) found = “yes”;
j++;
}
if (found == “no”) answer = “no”;
i++;
}
Set Properties
• Inclusion of Intersection:
– A B A and A B B
• Inclusion in Union:
– A A B and B A B
• Transitivity of Inclusion:
– (A B B C) A C
• Set Definitions:
– xXYxXyY
– xXYxXyY
– xX–YxXyY
– x Xc x X
– (x, y) X Y x X y Y
Set Identities
• Commutative Laws: A B = A B and A B = B A
• Associative Laws: (A B) C = A (B C) and (A B) C = A (B C)
• Distributive Laws:
A (B C) = (A B) (A C) and A (B C) = (A B) (A C)
• Intersection and Union with universal set: A U = A and A U = U
• Double Complement Law: (Ac)c = A
• Idempotent Laws: A A = A and A A = A
• De Morgan’s Laws: (A B)c = Ac Bc and (A B)c = Ac Bc
• Absorption Laws: A (A B) = A and A (A B) = A
• Alternate Representation for Difference: A – B = A Bc
• Intersection and Union with a subset: if A B, then A B = A and A B = B
Exercises
• Is is true that (A – B) (B – C) = A – C?
• Show that (A B) – C = (A – C) (B – C)
• Is it true that A – (B – C) = (A – B) – C?
• Is it true that (A – B) (A B) = A?
Empty Set
• S = {x R, x2 = -1}
• X = {1, 3}, Y = {2, 4}, C = X Y
• Empty set has no elements
• Empty set is a subset of any set
• There is exactly one empty set
• Properties of empty set:
– A = A, A =
– A Ac = , A Ac = U
– Uc = , c = U
Set Partitioning
• Two sets are called disjoint if they have no elements
in common
• Theorem: A – B and B are disjoint
• A collection of sets A1, A2, …, An is called mutually
disjoint when any pair of sets from this collection is
disjoint
• A collection of non-empty sets {A1, A2, …, An} is
called a partition of a set A when the union of these
sets is A and this collection consists of mutually
disjoint sets
Power Set
• Power set of A is the set of all subsets of A
• Theorem: if A B, then P(A) P(B)
• Theorem: If set X has n elements, then P(X)
has 2n elements
Boolean Algebra
• Boolean Algebra is a set of elements together
with two operations denoted as + and * and
satisfying the following properties:
a + b = b + a, a * b = b * a
(a + b) + c = a + (b + c), (a * b) *c = a * (b * c)
a + (b * c) = (a + b) * (a + c), a * (b + c) = (a * b) + (a * c)
a + 0 = a, a * 1 = a for some distinct unique 0 and 1
a + ã = 1, a * ã = 0
Exercises
• Simplify: A ((B Ac) Bc)
• Symmetric Difference: A B = (A – B) (B – A)
• Show that symmetric difference is associative
• Are A – B and B – C necessarily disjoint?
• Are A – B and C – B necessarily disjoint?
• Let S = {2, 3, …, n}. For each Si S, let Pi be the
product of elements in Si. Show that:
Pi = (n + 1)! / 2 – 1
Russell’s Paradox
• Set of all integers, set of all abstract ideas
• Consider S = {A, A is a set and A A}
• Is S an element of S?
• Barber puzzle: a male barber shaves all
those men who do not shave themselves.
Does the barber shave himself?
• Consider S = {A U, A A}. Is S S?
Halting Problem
• There is no computer algorithm that will
accept any algorithm X and data set D as
input and then will output “halts” or “loops
forever” to indicate whether X terminates in
a finite number of steps when X is run with
data set D.