Last updated
Was this helpful?
Last updated
Was this helpful?
German mathematician Georg Cantor (1845-1918) has introduced sets. His work from 1874 to 1884 is the origin of set theory. Cantor's definition: "A set is a gathering together into a whole of definite distinct objects of our perception or thought, called the set elements".
Sets are ubiquitous in mathematics, with many math objects resabling a set of some kind.
Sets are introduced in theories without a proof: as a primitive or axiom.
Zermelo-Fraenkel (ZF) set theory is considered the foundation of modern math.
Initially, naïve set theory was developed that treated sets as collections of objects without imposing any restriction as to what can consitute a set. This has led to some paradoxes, with Russell's paradox being the most famous.
Naïve set theory is an informal approach to set theory.
Axiomatic set theory, such as ZF, is a formal system based on a set of axioms.
objects that belong to a set are called set elements or set members
relation between an object and a set is a membership relation, denoted by a variant of Greek letter epsilon (ε):
subset is an example of inclusion relation
inclusion relation is reflexive, transitive, and anti-symmetric
proper inclusion relation is irreflexive, transitive, and asymmetric.
inclusion and proper inclusion relations have natural converses;
A (properly) includes B iff B is (properly) included in A;
alternatively, A is a (proper) superset of B
exclusion relation is symmetric and anti-reflexive
inclusion relation is antisymmetric
set membership (belonging) is an example of membership relation
membership (elementhood) relation is reflexive
inclusion relation is transitive, membership relation is not
standard set notation: curly braces for listing the elements explicitly
comprehensions: {x ∈ S |...}
∅ for the empty set
S \ T for the set difference of S and T
cardinality of a set S is |S|
powerset of S i.e. the set of all the subsets of S, is P(S)
the set {0,1,2,3,4,5,...} of natural numbers is denoted by the symbol N
a set is countable if its elements can be placed in one-to-one correspondence with the natural numbers
An n-place relation on a collection of sets S1,S2,...,Sn
is a set R ⊆ S1 × S2 ×...× Sn of tuples of elements S1 - Sn
the elements s1 ∈ S1 through sn ∈ Sn are related by R if (s1,...,sn) is an element of R
A one-place relation on a set S is called a predicate on S
P is true of an element s ∈ S if s ∈ P
we write P(s) instead of s ∈ P, regarding P as a function mapping elements of S to truth values
A two-place relation R on sets S and T is a binary relation
We write sRt instead of (s, t) ∈ R
if S and T are the same set U, then R is a binary relation on U
3-place or more place relations are often written using a mixfix concrete syntax, where the elements in the relation are separated by a sequence of symbols that jointly constitute the name of the relation. For example, for the typing relation for the simply typed lambda calculus, we write Γ ⊢ s : T to mean the triple (Γ,s,T) is in the typing relation.
The domain of a relation R on sets S and T, written dom(R), is the set of elements s ∈ S such that (s, t) ∈ R for some t.
The codomain or range of R, written range(R), is the set of elements t ∈ T such that (s, t) ∈ R for some s
A relation R on sets S and T is called a partial function from S to T if, whenever (s, t1) ∈ R and (s, t2) ∈ R, we have t1 = t2.
If, in addition, dom(R) = S, then R is called a total function (or just function) from S to T.
A partial function R from S to T is said to be defined on an argument s ∈ S if s ∈ dom(R), and undefined otherwise.
We write f (x) ↑, or f (x) =↑, to mean f is undefined on x, and f (x)↓ to mean f is defined on x
we also need to define functions that may fail on some inputs, so it is important to distinguish failure (which is a legitimate, observable result) from divergence
a function that may fail can be either partial, i.e. it may also diverge, or total (it must always return a result or explicitly fail)
We write f(x)=fail when f returns a failure result on the input x.
Formally, a function from S to T that may also fail is actually a function
from S to T ∪ {fail}, where we assume that fail does not belong to T.
Suppose R is a binary relation on a set S and P is a predicate on S. P is preserved by R if whenever we have sRs' and P(s), we also have P(s0).
a binary relation R on a set S is reflexive if R relates every element of S to itself i.e. sRs or (s,s) ∈ R for all s ∈ S.
R is symmetric if sRt implies tRs, for all s and t in S.
R is transitive if sRt AND tRu imply sRu.
R is antisymmetric if sRt and tRs imply that s = t
A reflexive and transitive relation R on a set S is called a preorder on S.
We denote a preorder by s < t "s is strictly less than t" to mean s ≤ t ∧ s ≠ t.
A preorder (on a set S) that is also antisymmetric is called a partial order
on S.
A partial order ≤ is called a total order if it also has the property that,
for each s and t in S, either s ≤ t or t ≤ s.
Suppose that ≤ is a partial order on a set S and s and t are elements of S. An element j ∈ S is said to be a join (or least upper bound) of s and t if s ≤ j and t ≤ j, AND for any element k ∈ S with s ≤ k and t ≤ k, we have j ≤ k.
an element m ∈ S is a meet (or greatest lower bound) of s and t if m ≤ s and m ≤ t, AND for any element n ∈ S with n ≤ s and n ≤ t, we have n ≤ m
a reflexive, transitive, and symmetric relation on a set S is called
an equivalence on S.
let R is a binary relation on a set S. The reflexive closure of R is the smallest reflexive relation R' that contains R. "Smallest" in the sense that if R'' is some other reflexive relation that contains all the pairs in R, then we have R' ⊆ R''
the transitive closure of R is the smallest transitive relation R' that contains R
The transitive closure of R is often written R+
The reflexive and transitive closure of R is the smallest reflexive and transitive relation that contains R, often written R∗.
Let preorder ≤ on a set S. A decreasing chain in ≤ is a sequence s1,s2,s3,... of elements of S such that each member of the sequence is strictly less than its predecessor: si+1 < si for every i.
Chains can be either finite or infinite
Suppose we have a set S with a preorder ≤. We say that ≤ is well
founded if it contains no infinite decreasing chains. For example, the usual order on the natural numbers, with 0 < 1 < ..., is well founded, but the same order on the integers, ...< −1 < 0 < 1 <... is not. We sometimes omit mentioning ≤ explicitly and simply speak of S as a well-founded set.
Cardinality of the set X is denoted by
Cardinality of the powerset of the set X is
Cardinality of the Cartasian product of the set X:
Cardinality of the powerset of the Cartasian product of the set X is
Each relation is a subset of the Cartasian product of the set X:
Each relation is an element in the powerset of the Cartasian product of the set X:
Number of all possible relations on a set: