CPSC 125 Ch 3 Sec 1

Set, Combinatorics, Probability &
Number Theory

Mathematical Structures
for Computer Science
Chapter 3

Copyright © 2006 W.H. Freeman & Co. MSCS Slides Set, Combinatorics, Probability & Number Theory

Set theory
●  Sets: Powerful tool in computer science to solve real world
problems.

●  A set is a collection of distinct objects called elements.

●  Traditionally, sets are represented by capital letters, and
elements by lower case letters.

●  The symbol ∈ means “belongs to” and is used to represent the
fact that an element belongs to a particular set. Hence, a∈A
means that element a belongs to set A.

●  b∉A implies that b is not an element of A.

●  Braces {} are used to indicate a set.

●  A = {2, 4, 6, 8, 10}

3∉A and 2∈A

Section 3.1 Sets 1

Set theory
●  Ordering is not imposed on the set elements and listing elements
twice or more is redundant.

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

●  Hence, A = B means

(∀x)[(x ∈ A → x ∈ B) Λ (x ∈ B → x ∈ A)]

●  Finite and inﬁnite set: described by number of elements in a set

●  Members of inﬁnite sets cannot be listed, but a pattern for listing
elements could be indicated.

●  e.g. S = {x | x is a positive even integer} or using predicate
notation.

S = {x | P(x)} means (∀x)[(x ∈ S → P(x)) Λ (P(x)→ x ∈ S)]
where P is the unary predicate.

●  Hence, every element of S has the property P and everything
that has a property P is an element of S.

Section 3.1 Sets 2

Set Theory Examples

●  Describe each of the following sets by listing the
elements:

●  {x | x is a month with exactly thirty days}

■  {April, June, September, November}

●  {x | x is an integer and 4 < x < 9}

■  {5, 6, 7, 8}

●  What is the predicate for each of the following sets?

●  {1, 4, 9, 16}

■  {x | x is one of the ﬁrst four perfect squares}

●  {2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, ….}

■  {x | x is a prime number}

Section 3.1 Sets 3

Set Theory Basics
●  A set that has no members is called a null or empty set and is
represented by ∅ or {}.

■  Note that ∅ is different from {∅}. The latter is a set with 1
element, which is the empty set.

●  Some notations used for convenience of deﬁning sets

■  N = set of all nonnegative integers (note that 0 ∈ N)

■  Z = set of all integers

■  Q = set of all rational numbers

■  R = set of all real numbers

■  C = set of all complex numbers

●  Using the above notations and predicate symbols, one can
describe sets quite easily

●  A = {x | (∃y)[(y∈ {0,1,2}) and (x = y2)]}

■  Hence, A = {0,1, 4}

●  A = {x | x ∈ N and (∀y)(y ∈ {2, 3, 4, 5} → x ≥ y)}

●  B = {x | (∃y)(∃z)(y ∈ {1,2} and z ∈ {2,3} and x = z – y) }

Section 3.1 Sets 4

Open and closed interval

{x ∈ R | -2 < x < 3}

●  Denotes the set containing all real numbers between -2 and 3.
This is an open interval, meaning that the endpoints -2 and 3 are
not included.

■  By all real numbers, we mean everything such as 1.05, -3/4, and
every other real number within that interval.

{x ∈ R | -2 ≤ x ≤ 3}

●  Similar set but on a closed interval

■  It includes all the numbers in the open interval described above,
plus the endpoints.

Section 3.1 Sets 5

Relationship between Sets
●  Say S is the set of all people, M is the set of all male humans,
and C is the set of all computer science students.

●  M and C are both subsets of S, because all elements of M and C
are also elements of S.

●  M is not a subset of C, however, since there are elements of M
that are not in C (speciﬁcally, all males who are not studying
computer science).

●  For sets S and M, M is a subset of S if, and only if, every
element in M is also an element of S.

■  Symbolically: M ⊆ S ⇔ (∀x), if x ∈ M, then x ∈ S.

●  If M ⊆ S and M ≠ S, then there is at least one element of S that
is not an element of M, then M is a proper subset of S.

■  Symbolically, denoted by M ⊂ S

Section 3.1 Sets 6

Relationship between Sets
●  A superset is the opposite of subset. If M is a subset of
S, then S is a superset of M.

■  Symbolically, denoted S ⊆ M.

●  Likewise, if M is a proper subset of S, then S is a
proper superset of M.

■  Symbolically, denoted S ⊃ M.

●  Cardinality of a set is simply the number of elements
within the set.

●  The cardinality of S is denoted by |S|.

●  By the above deﬁnition of subset, it is clear that set M
must have fewer members than S, which yields the
following symbolic representation:

S ⊃ M ⇒ |M| < |S|

Section 3.1 Sets 7

Exercise

●  A = {x | x ∈ N and x ≥ 5} ⇒ {5, 6, 7, 8, 9, …… }

●  B = {10, 12, 16, 20}

●  C = {x | (∃y)(y ∈ N and x = 2y)} ⇒ {0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, …….}

●  What statements are true?

B⊆C √

B ⊂ A

√

A ⊆ C

26 ∈ C

√

{11, 12, 13} ⊆ A

√

{11, 12, 13} ⊂ C

{12} ∈ B

{12} ⊆ B

√

{x | x ∈ N and x < 20}⊄ B

√

5 ⊆ A

{∅} ⊆ B

∅ ∈ A

√

Section 3.1 Sets 8

Set of Sets
●  For the following sets, prove A ⊂ B.

●  A = { x | x ∈ R such that x2 – 4x + 3 = 0}

■  A = {1, 3}

●  B = { x | x ∈ N and 1≤ x ≤ 4}

■  B = {1, 2, 3, 4}

●  All elements of A exist in B, hence A ⊂ B.

●  From every set, many subsets can be generated. A set whose
elements are all such subsets is called the power set.

●  For a set S, ℘(S) is termed as the power set.

●  For a set S = {1, 2, 3} ; ℘(S) = {∅ ,{1}, {2}, {3}, {1,2}, {1,3},
{2,3}, {1,2,3}}

●  For a set with n elements, the power set has 2n elements.

Section 3.1 Sets 9

Set operations
●  Binary and unary operators

■  Binary acts on two elements, say x-y or y-x.

■  Unary acts on a single element, say negation of an element x is –x.

■  Example: +, - and * are all binary operators on Z.

●  An ordered pair of elements is written as (x,y) and is different
from (y,x).

■  Two ordered pairs (a,b) and (c,d) are equal if and only if a = c and

b = d.

■  If S = {2,3}, the ordered pairs of this set are (2,2), (2,3), (3,2), (3,3).

●  Binary operation (represented by °) on a set deﬁned as follows:

●  If for every ordered pair (x,y) of elements of S, x ° y exists, and is
unique, and is a member of S.

■  The fact that x ° y exists, and is unique is the same as saying that the
binary operation ° is well-deﬁned.

■  The fact that x ° y always belongs to S means that S is closed under
the operation °.

■  The operator ° is just a placeholder for a real operator like +, -, * etc.

Section 3.1 Sets 10

Binary or unary operations

●  Which of the following are neither binary nor unary
operations on the given sets? Why?

●  x ° y = x/y;

S = set of all positive integers

■  S is not closed under division (x/0 does not exist).

●  x ° y = x/y;

S = set of all positive rational numbers

●  x ° y = xy;

S = R

■  00 is not deﬁned

●  x ° y = maximum of x and y;

S = N

●  x ° y = x + y;

S = set of Fibonacci numbers

■  S is not closed under addition since, 1+3 = 4 and 4 is
not a Fibonacci number

Section 3.1 Sets 11

Operations on Sets
●  New sets can be formed in a variety of ways, and can be
described using both set builder notation and Venn diagrams.

●  Let A, B ∈ ℘(S). The union of set A and B, denoted by A ∪ B
is the set that contains all elements in either set A or set B, i.e.
A ∪ B = {x | x ∈ A or x ∈ B}. The intersection of set A and B,
denoted by A ∩ B contain all elements that are common to both
sets i.e. A ∩ B = {x | x ∈ A and x ∈ B}

●  If A = { 1,3,5,7,9} and B = {3,7,9,10,15} ;

A ∪ B = {1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 15} and A ∩ B = {3, 7, 9}.

Section 3.1 Sets 12

Disjoint, Universal and Difference Sets
●  Given set A and set B, if A ∪ B = ∅, then A and B are disjoint
sets. In other words, there are no elements in A that are also in
B.

●  For a set A ∈ ℘(S), the complement of set A, denoted as ~A or
Aʹ′, is the set of all elements that are not in A.

Aʹ′ = {x | x ∈ S and x ∉ A }

●  The difference of A-B is the set of elements in A that are not in
B. This is also known as the complement of B relative to A.

A - B = {x | x ∈ A and x ∉ B }

Note A – B = A ∩ Bʹ′ ≠ B – A

Section 3.1 Sets 13

Class Exercise
●  Let

A = {1, 2, 3, 5, 10}

B = {2, 4, 7, 8, 9}

C = {5, 8, 10}

be subsets of S = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10}. Find

●  A ∪ B

{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10}

●  A – C

{1, 2, 3}

●  Bʹ′ ∩ (A ∪ C)

{1, 3, 5, 10}

●  A ∩ B ∩ C

{∅}

●  (A ∪ B) ∩ Cʹ′

{1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9}

Section 3.1 Sets 14

Cartesian Product
●  If A and B are subsets of S, then the cartesian product (cross
product) of A and B denoted symbolically by A × B is defined by

A × B = {(x,y) | x ∈ A and y ∈ B }

●  The Cartesian product of 2 sets is the set of all combinations of ordered
pairs that can be produced from the elements of both sets. Example,
given 2 sets A and B, where A = {a, b, c} and B = {1, 2, 3}, the
Cartesian product of A and B can be represented as

A × B = {(a, 1), (a, 2), (a, 3), (b, 1), (b, 2), (b, 3), (c, 1), (c, 2), (c, 3)}

●  Is A × B = B × A?

●  Cross-product of a set with itself is represented as A × A or A2

●  An ordered n-tuple is a set of elements that is defined by the order in
that the elements appear, and by the number of times which distinct
elements appear.

■  Example, the coordinates of points on a graph are ordered pairs, where the
first value must be the x coordinate, and the second value must be the y
coordinate.

●  An represents the set of all n-tuples (x1, x2, …, xn) of elements of A.

Section 3.1 Sets 15

Basic Set Identities
●  Given sets A, B, and C, and a universal set S and a null/empty
set ∅, the following properties hold:

●  Commutative property (cp)

A ∪ B = B ∪ A

A ∩ B = B ∩ A

●  Associative property (ap)

A ∪ (B ∪ C) = (A ∪ B) ∪ C

A ∩ (B ∩ C) = (A ∩ B) ∩ C

●  Distributive properties (dp)

A ∩ (B ∪ C) = (A ∩ B) ∪ (A ∩ C)

A ∪ (B ∩ C) = (A ∪ B) ∩ (A ∪ C)

●  Identity properties

(ip)

∅ ∪ A = A ∪ ∅ = A

S ∩ A = A ∩ S = A

●  Complement properties (comp)

A ∪ Aʹ′ = S

A ∩ Aʹ′ = ∅

Section 3.1 Sets 16

More set identities
●  Double Complement Law

(Aʹ′)ʹ′ = A

●  Idempotent Laws

A ∪ A = A

A ∩ A = A

●  Absorption properties

A ∪ (A ∩ B) = A

A ∩ (A ∪ B) = A

●  Alternate Set Difference Representation

A - B = A ∩ Bʹ′

●  Inclusion in Union

A ⊆ A ∪ B

B ⊆ A ∪ B

●  Inclusion in Intersection

A ∩ B ⊆ A

A ∩ B ⊆ B

●  Transitive Property of Subsets

if A ⊆ B, and B ⊆ C, then A ⊆ C

Section 3.1 Sets 17

Exercise
●  Use the set identities to prove

[A ∪ (B ∩ C)] ∩ ([Aʹ′ ∪ (B ∩ C)] ∩ (B ∩ C)ʹ′) = ∅

●  Proof:

[A ∪ (B ∩ C)] ∩ ([Aʹ′ ∪ (B ∩ C)] ∩ (B ∩ C)ʹ′) =

([A ∪ (B ∩ C)] ∩ [Aʹ′ ∪ (B ∩ C)]) ∩ (B ∩ C)ʹ′

using ap

([(B ∩ C) ∪ A] ∩ [(B ∩ C) ∪ Aʹ′]) ∩ (B ∩ C)ʹ′

using cp twice

[(B ∩ C) ∪ (A ∩ Aʹ′)] ∩ (B ∩ C)ʹ′

using dp

[(B ∩ C) ∪ ∅] ∩ (B ∩ C)ʹ′

using comp

(B ∩ C) ∩ (B ∩ C)ʹ′

using ip

∅

using comp

Section 3.1 Sets 18

CPSC 125 Ch 3 Sec 1

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