set
A set is a collection of distinct objects which we call elements of the set. A set can have a finite number of elements or infinitely many elements.
declaration of a finite set
We may declare a finite set by listing it's elements between curly braces like so or
set builder notation
Suppose that represents a statement which depends on the variable , then we define to be the set of elements of such that the statement holds true.
Empty Set
The set with no elements is called the empty set and is denoted by
element of
Suppose that is an element of a set , then we write
Family of Sets
We denote a set whose elements are also sets by a family of sets to avoid the unwieldy statement: "set of sets"
subset
superset
set equality by subsets
We will show the sets are equal using the definition of set equality.
To show that a bi-implication is true, we have to prove both directions. So first suppose that , then since , . For the other direction suppose that , then since then . Therefore we know that if and only if as needed.
rationals
The integers are the set
note: The symbol for rationals can be remebered as they are uotients
integers
The integers are the set
note: The symbol for integers can be remembered as the word for number in German is ahlen
Natural Numbers 0
We define
Finite Integer Set
Suppose that , then the notation is a set such that for any if then .
Empty Integer Set
Suppose that such that then
is defined as the set such that iff and but this is impossible for if there were any such then by transitivity we have that which is impossible.
Natural Numbers 1
We define
Natural Numbers up to n
Let , then we define