Discrete Mathematics

Chapter 2, Section 2.1

Sets
Sets
• A set is an unordered collection of objects.
• The set is the fundamental discrete
structure on which all other discrete
structures are built.
• The objects in a set are called its elements,
or members.
• A set is said to contain its elements.
Set Notation
• We normally use upper-case letters to
represent the names of sets, and lower-
case letters to represent their elements.
• To denote that a is an element of set S we
write: a  S
• To denote that a is not an element of set S
we write: a  S
How to Describe a Set
• We can describe a set in two ways:
– List all of its elements
– Give a set of rules that characterize all
of the members of the set (set builder
notation)
 Listing the Elements of a Set
• To list the members of a set, we use curly braces,
separating each element from the next with a comma.
• Example: the set of all vowels in the English language is
the set
V = {a, e, i, o, u}
• We can use ellipses to keep us from having to list all of
the elements individually, provided the meaning is
obvious: H = {1, 2, 3, 4, …, 100}
Using Set Builder Notation
• Often we are dealing with sets where it is
impossible to list all of their elements.
• In set builder notation, we give a rule that
characterizes all members of a set.
• Example:
S = {x | x is the square of an integer}
• This can be read, “S is the set of all x such
that x is the square of an integer”.
 Using Set Builder Notation
• In studying computer theory, we find it
useful to remember the following sets:
N = {0, 1, 2, 3, …}, the set of natural numbers
Z = {…, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, …}, the set of integers
Z+ = {1, 2, 3, …}, the set of positive integers
Q = {p/q | p  Z, q  Z, and q  0}, the set of rational
numbers
Q+ = the set of positive rational numbers
R = the set of real numbers
What Can Constitute a Set?
• Note that anything within a set of curly
braces can be considered a set. The
elements of a set don’t necessarily have to
have anything to do with one another.
• Example: {Boston, “7”, iPod, 2.7, Sleepy} is
a legal set.
What Can Constitute a Set?
• Two sets are equal if and only if they have
the same elements.
• Consider sets A and B. Then A = B (A
and B are equal) iff:
x ((x  A)  (x  B))
The Elements of a Set
The order in which elements occur in sets is
irrelevant. For example, the following two
sets are equal:
{a, b, c, d, e}
{c, e, a, d, b}
The Elements of a Set
It does not matter if an element of a set is
listed more than once. For example,
{a, a, a, b, c}
and
{a, b, c}
are equivalent. We ignore any duplicates.
What Can Constitute a Set?
• The elements of a set can themselves be
sets. For example,
S = {N, Z, Q, R}
• Question: Does set S have any duplicate
elements?
• Answer: No. Set S has only 4 elements,
none of which is equivalent to any of the
others.
 What Can Constitute a Set?
• A set that has no elements is called the empty set or
null set.
• Yes, it is still considered a real set, even though it has no
elements.
• It is denoted by , or by { }.
• Since the empty set is a set, another set can contain the
empty set as one of its elements:
A ={, a} This set has 2 elements
B = {} This set has 1 element
C= This set has 0 elements
Venn Diagrams
• Sets can be represented graphically using
Venn diagrams.
• In Venn diagrams:
– A rectangle represents the universal set
(universe of discourse)
– Circles (and other geometric figures)
represents sets
– Points (or words) represent elements
Venn Diagrams
• Assistant professors at Blivet State
University who have taught CSE 2813:

Smith Green

Jones

Brown Moore
Subset
The set A is said to be a subset of set B if and
only if every element of set A is also an
element of set B.
We use this notation: A  B
A  B is true if and only if the following
quantification is true:
x ((x  A)  (x  B))
Subset
Obviously, according to the preceding
definition, if A = B, it must be true that:
A  B, and
B  A.
Moreover, it should be self-evident that
every set is a subset of itself. That is:
AA
Proper Subset
However, if all of A’s elements are also in B,
but B has some elements in it that A does
not have (that is, A  B), then we can be a
more precise and say that A is a proper
subset of B.
We use this notation: A  B
A is a proper subset of B iff:
x (x  A  x  B)  x(x  B  x  A)
Proper Subset
We can represent the subset relationship
using a Venn diagram. The following
diagram represents A  B:

A
Subset
Interestingly enough, the empty set, , is a
subset of every other set (or, more
precisely, every nonempty set).
Your book gives a formal proof, but you
might think of it this way instead: if set S =
{a, b}, then it has 4 subsets –
{{a}, {b}, {ab}, }
Properties of Sets
One way to show that two sets are equal is
to show that each set is a subset of the
other.
The Cardinality of a Set
Given a set S, and n  N (that is, n is an
element of the set of natural numbers -- the
integers from 0 on up),
if there are exactly n distinct elements in S,
then:
S is a finite set, and
n is the cardinality of S
The cardinality of S is represented by |S|.
Properties of Sets
We now can see that every nonempty set S
must have at least two subsets:
 and S
Theorem 1 in section 2.1 of your textbook
says:

For every set S,

S
SS
 Powerset

The powerset of S is the set of all subsets of S.

The powerset of S is represented by P(S), or
by the symbol 2|S|
For example, if S = {a, b}, then:
P(S) = {{a}, {b}, {a, b}, }
Powerset
Remember that |S| represents the
cardinality of S (the number of elements in
S).
Here S has two elements, a and b. So 2|S| can
be understood as 22, which is 4.
And 4 is the number of subsets of S, or the
cardinality of the powerset of S.
 Powerset
The powerset of the empty set is a special
case.
The powerset of the empty set is:
P() = {, {}}
 Cartesian Product
The Cartesian product, or cross product, of two sets is the
set of ordered pairs of elements of the two sets. To
represent the cross product of sets A and B we use the
symbol , as in A  B.
For example, given:
set A = {a, b} and
set Y = {x, y}
The Cartesian product A  Y = {ax, ay, bx, by}
Set Notation with Quantifiers
xS(P(x)) means “ for all x that are
elements of S, P(x) is true”. This is referred
to as the universal quantification of P(x)
over all elements in the set S. It is
shorthand for: x(x  S P(x))
 xS(P(x)) is the existential quantification of
P(x) over all elements in the set S. It is
shorthand for: x(x  S P(x))
Truth Sets of Quantifiers
Given a predicate, P, and a domain, D, the
truth set of P is defined as the set of
elements in D for which P(x) is true.
The truth set of P(x) is is denoted by {x  D |
P(x)}: “those elements of domain D such
that P(x) is true”