NPTEL Course on Discrete Mathematics

Lecture 20: Countable and Uncountable Sets

Dr. Ashish Choudhury

IIIT Bangalore
 Lecture Overview
 Cardinality of finite sets
 Cardinality of infinite sets

 Countable and uncountable sets

 Cardinality of Finite Set
 What is the cardinality of the set ?
 , as there is a bijection between and

Ram 1 Delhi
Shyam 2 Kolkata
Gita 3 Mumbai
Sita 4 Chennai
 Cardinality of the set is 4
 Definition: Sets and have same cardinality (denoted as ) if and only if there
is a bijection (one-to-one correspondence) between and
 Comparing the Cardinality of Finite Sets
𝑋 = { Ram , Shyam } , 𝑌 = {Delhi , Kolkata , Mumbai }
 is smaller than as there is an injective function from to

Ram Delhi
Kolkata
Shyam Mumbai
 Definition: Cardinality of is less than or the same as cardinality of (denoted
as ), if there is an injective mapping from to
 If and and have different cardinalities, then
 Countable Sets
 Motivation: Splitting infinite sets into two categories

𝑆1 𝑆2 𝑆𝑘

Infinite sets
lity Di
ffe
ina r
rd en
ca tc
m e ard
Sa ina
+¿¿ lity
ℤ
Set of positive integers
 Countable Sets
 Definition: A set is called countable, if:
 It is finite OR  It is has the same cardinality as the set
 Definition: A set that is not countable, is called uncountable
 Definition: An infinite set which is countable is called a countably infinite set
--- aleph null

 Theorem: An infinite set is countable iff it is 1 𝑎1

possible to list the elements of in a 2 𝑓 𝑎2
sequence (indexed by positive integers) ⋮ ⋮
𝑛 𝑎𝑛
 Let be the bijection, which establishes ⋮ ⋮
that is countably infinite +¿¿ ❑
ℤ 𝑆
 Set of Odd Positive Integers is Countable
 Theorem: The set of odd positive integers is a countable set

1 1
2 𝑓 3
The integers in can be arranged in the
⋮ ⋮
𝑛 2 𝑛− 1 sequence
⋮ ⋮
+¿¿ +¿ ¿ Consider the function
ℤ ℤodd
 The function is injective --- If
 The function is surjective
 Consider an arbitrary --- , for some
 Set of Integers is Countable
 Theorem: The set of integers is a countable set

1 0
2 𝑓 1
−1 The integers in can be arranged in the
3
2 sequence
4
5 −2
Consider the function
⋮ ⋮

{
ℤ
+¿¿
ℤ 𝑛
2
, if 𝑛 is even
𝑓 (𝑛 )= , if 𝑛 is odd
−( 𝑛− 1)
2

 The function is a bijection

 Set of Prime Numbers is Countable
 Theorem: The set of prime numbers is a countable set

1 2
2 𝑓 3
5 The integers in can be arranged in the
3
7 sequence
4
5 11
Consider the function
⋮ ⋮
ℤ
+¿¿
ℙ prime number

The function is well-defined and a bijection

 References for Today’s Lecture

https://www.anilada.com/courses/15251f16/www/slides/lec5.pdf