1 Math 134n: Abstract Algebra

Lesson 1.1: Review of Sets and Methods of

Proof

Lesson Summary
Much of abstract algebra involves sets, and most exercises require proofs. In this
lesson, we recall the notion of sets and certain methods of proving, which are very
useful in this course. Since these topics were well covered in your previous course -
Math 116n (Logic and Set Theory), we will only have an overview of this topic and then
do some exercises at the end.

Learning Outcomes
1. Recall the different methods of proof.
2. Recall the definitions and properties related to the notion of sets.

Motivation Question
Why are sets and proofs important in the study of abstract algebra? What is a proof?
Do illustrative examples comprise proof?

Discussion

Some Notes on Proofs

An argument which convinces other people that a statement is true is called a

mathematical proof. It is nothing more than a convincing argument about the accuracy
of a statement.
The following are the common methods of proof that we often encounter.
1. Vacuous proof: A proof that the implication 𝑝 ⟹ 𝑞 is true based on the
fact that 𝑝 is false.
2. Trivial proof: A proof that the implication 𝑝 ⟹ 𝑞 is true based on the fact
that 𝑞 is true.
3. Direct proof: A proof that the implication 𝑝 ⟹ 𝑞 by showing that 𝑞 must
be true if 𝑝 is true.
4. Indirect proof (proof by contraposition): A proof that the implication 𝑝 ⟹
𝑞 by showing that 𝑝 must be false if 𝑞 is false.
5. Indirect proof (proof by contradiction): A proof that the implication 𝑝 ⟹ 𝑞
by arriving at a contradiction if we assume that 𝑞 is false.
2 Math 134n: Abstract Algebra

6. Proof by cases: A proof of an implication where the hypothesis is a

disjunction of propositions showing that each proposition separately
implies the conclusion.
7. Existence proof: A proof of the proposition ∃𝑥 𝑃(𝑥).
8. Non-existence proof: A proof of the statement ¬∃𝑥 𝑃(𝑥), which is also
∀𝑥¬𝑃(𝑥)). One way is to assume that there is a member of the universe of
discourse for which 𝑃(𝑥) is true and try to arrive at a contradiction.
9. Proof by mathematical induction: Let 𝑃(𝑛) be a proposition for each
positive integer. If the following two conditions are satisfied, then 𝑃(𝑛) is
true for all positive integers 𝑛:
a. The proposition 𝑃(1) is true.
b. The implication 𝑃(𝑛) ⟹ 𝑃(𝑛 + 1) is shown to be true for every
positive integer 𝑛.
A statement proven to be true is called a proposition. An important proposition
is called a theorem. In some cases, instead of proving a theorem or proposition
directly, the proof is broken down into chunks, that is, we prove several supporting
propositions, which are called lemmas, and use these propositions to prove the main
result. A corollary is a proposition that can be derived from a related proposition or
theorem, often, with very little effort. (Judson & Beezer, 2020, p. 2)

Some Cautions and Suggestions in Proving Statements

There are various strategies for proving statements. Students who are still
starting to learn how to prove theorems often make some common mistakes. To aid
students in their study of abstract mathematics, we list some of the difficulties they
may encounter and some of the proving strategies. As a reminder, it is a good idea to
keep referring back to this list. These suggestions were adapted from (Judson &
Beezer, 2020, pp. 2-3).
1. Examples, no matter how vast, cannot prove a theorem; however, providing
a counterexample is the standard way of showing that a statement is not a
theorem.
2. Quantifiers play an important role in mathematical statements. Words and
phrases such as only, for all, for every, and for some possess different
meanings.
3. Do not take things for granted. Never assume any hypothesis that is not
explicitly stated in the theorem.
4. In proving the existence and uniqueness of an object, first, show that there
is such an object. To show that it is unique, assume that there are two of
such objects, say r and s, and then show that 𝑟 = 𝑠.
5. In some cases, it is easier to prove the contrapositive of a statement.
6. Direct proof is usually better; however, sometimes, direct proof of a
theorem is difficult to establish. It may be easier to assume that the
theorem that we want to prove is false and hope that we arrive at some
statement that cannot be true in the course of our argument.
Note that proving theorems is one of the main objectives of higher
mathematics. Theorems are tools that make new and productive applications of
3 Math 134n: Abstract Algebra

mathematics possible. We use examples to give insight into existing theorems and to
foster intuitions as to what new theorems might be true. Applications, examples, and
proofs are tightly interconnected – much more so than they may seem at first
appearance.

Sets

We think of a set as a well-defined collection of objects; that is, it is described

in such a way that we can determine for any given object 𝑥 whether or not 𝑥 belongs
to the set. The objects that belong to a set are called its elements or members. We will
denote sets by capital letters, such as 𝐴 or 𝑋; if 𝑎 is an element of the set 𝐴, we write
𝑎 ∈ 𝐴.
The following are the three methods that are commonly used to specify a set.
1. Descriptive method. The set is described using a word description. For
example, we can describe the set 𝐸 as the set of positive even integers.
2. Roster method. This involves listing the elements of the set inside a pair of
braces, { }. The roster form uses commas to separate the elements of the
set. Thus, we can designate the set 𝐸 by listing its elements, say
𝐸 = { 2, 4, 6, . . . }.
3. Set-builder notation. In this method, the set is described using the unique
property shared by all of the set elements. For instance, 𝑋 = { 𝑥 | 𝑥
satisfies 𝑃 } if each 𝑥 in 𝑋 satisfies a certain property 𝑃. For instance, the
set of positive even integers can be expressed as
𝐸 = { 𝑥 | 𝑥 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑔𝑒𝑟 }.
We write 2 ∈ 𝐸 when we want to say that 2 is in the set 𝐸, and 3  E to say
that −3 is not in the set 𝐸.
The following are some of the more important sets that we will consider in this
course. Let us take care of the notation for these sets once and for all.

A set 𝑆 with only a finite number of elements is called a finite set; otherwise, 𝑆
is called an infinite set. The number of elements of a set 𝑆 is called the cardinality of
𝑆, denoted by |𝑆|.
It is also useful to have a set with no elements in it. This set is called the empty
set or the null set and is denoted by ∅ or { }.
We find various relations between sets and can perform operations on sets. A
set 𝑆 is a subset of 𝑇, written as 𝑆 ⊆ 𝑇 or 𝑇 ⊇ 𝑆, if every element of 𝑆 is also an element
of 𝑇. For example,
{4, 5, 8} ⊆ {2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8}
and
4 Math 134n: Abstract Algebra

ℕ ⊆ ℤ ⊆ ℚ ⊆ ℂ ⊆ ℝ.
Trivially, every set is a subset of itself, and the empty set is a subset of every
set. A set 𝑆 is a proper subset of a set 𝑇, denoted by 𝑆 ⊂ 𝑇, if 𝑆 ⊆ 𝑇 but 𝑆 ≠ 𝑇. The set
of all subsets of 𝑆 is called the power set of 𝑆, denoted by 𝒫(𝑆).
Two sets are equal if they have precisely the same elements and are equivalent
if they have the same cardinality. Moreover, two sets are equal, say 𝑆 = 𝑇, if we can
show that 𝑆 ⊆ 𝑇 and 𝑇 ⊆ 𝑆.
Example 1.1. Let 𝐴 = { 2, 4, 6, 8, 10} and 𝐵 = {1, 2, 3 }. The following statements are
true.
1. 0 ∈ℤ
2. 0∉ℕ
3. Set 𝐴 is finite.
4. The sets ℕ and ℤ are infinite.
5. |𝐴| = 5
6. 𝐴 ⊆ ℕ ⊆ ℤ
7. 𝐴 ⊂ ℕ ⊂ ℤ
8. 𝒫(𝐵) = { ∅, {1}, {2}, {3}, {1, 2}, {1, 3}, {2, 3} , 𝐵 }
To construct new sets out of old sets, we can perform the following set operations:
1. The union of two sets 𝐴 and 𝐵, written 𝐴 ∪ 𝐵, is defined to be the set

Here, we mean 𝑥 is a member of 𝐴, or 𝑥 is a member of 𝐵, or 𝑥 is a member of

both 𝐴 and 𝐵.
2. The intersection of two sets 𝐴 and 𝐵, written 𝐴 ∩ 𝐵, is defined to be the set

Here, 𝑥 is an element of 𝐴 ∩ 𝐵 if and only if 𝑥 is a member of 𝐴 and at the same

time 𝑥 is a member of 𝐵.

The union and intersection of two sets 𝐴 and 𝐵 is described pictorially in Figure
1. The shaded area represents the set being described. The union and
intersection can be defined for any finite number of sets. Suppose that
𝐴1 , 𝐴2 , . . . , 𝐴𝑛 are 𝑛 sets.

Figure 1. Venn diagram of union and intersection of sets A and B

 The union of 𝐴1 , 𝐴2 , … , 𝐴𝑛 , denoted by

𝑛

⋃ 𝐴𝑖 = 𝐴1 ∪ 𝐴2 ∪ … ∪ 𝐴𝑛 ,
𝑖=1
is the set of all elements 𝑥 such that 𝑥 is an element of some 𝐴𝑖 , where
1 ≤ 𝑖 ≤ 𝑛.
 The intersection of 𝐴1 , 𝐴2 , … , 𝐴𝑛 , denoted by
5 Math 134n: Abstract Algebra

⋂ 𝐴𝑖 = 𝐴1 ∩ 𝐴2 ∩ … ∩ 𝐴𝑛,
𝑖=1
is the set of all elements 𝑥 such that 𝑥 ∈ 𝐴𝑖 for all 𝑖, 1 ≤ 𝑖 ≤ 𝑛.
 We say that a set I is an index set for a collection of sets 𝐴 if, for any 𝛼 ∈ 𝐼,
there exists a set 𝐴𝛼 ∈ 𝐴 and 𝐴 = {𝐴𝛼 |𝛼 ∈ 𝐼}.The set 𝐼 can be any
nonempty set, finite or infinite.
 The union of the sets 𝐴𝛼 , 𝛼 ∈ 𝐼, is defined to be the set {𝑥|𝑥 ∈ 𝐴𝛼 for at
least one 𝛼 ∈ 𝐼}, and is denoted by
⋃ 𝐴𝛼 .
𝛼∈𝐼

The intersection of the sets 𝐴𝛼 , 𝛼 ∈ 𝐼, is defined to be the set {𝑥|𝑥 ∈ 𝐴𝛼

for all 𝛼 ∈ 𝐼}, and is denoted by
⋂ 𝐴𝛼 .
𝛼∈𝐼

When two sets have no elements in common, they are said to be disjoint.
That is, two sets 𝐴 and 𝐵 are said to be disjoint if 𝐴 ∩ 𝐵 = ∅. For example, if
𝐸 is the set of even integers and 𝑂 is the set of odd integers, then 𝐸 and 𝑂 are
disjoint. Sometimes we will work within one fixed set 𝑈, called the universal
set. For any set 𝐴 ⊆ 𝑈, we define the complement of 𝐴, denoted by 𝐴′ or 𝐴𝑐 , to
be the set
𝐴′ = {𝑥|𝑥 ∈ 𝑈 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑥 ∉ 𝐴}.
3. Given two sets 𝐴 and 𝐵, the difference or relative complement of 𝐵 in 𝐴,
denoted by 𝐴\𝐵 or 𝐴 − 𝐵, is the set

𝐴\𝐵 = 𝐴 − 𝐵 = {𝑥|𝑥 ∈ 𝐴, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑥 ∉ 𝐵}.

Figure 2 describes the set difference of two sets.

Figure 2. Venn diagram for the difference of sets

Example 1.2. Let ℝ be the universal set and suppose that

𝑨 = {𝒙 ∈ ℝ ∶ 𝟎 < 𝒙 ≤ 𝟓}; 𝑩 = {𝒙 ∈ ℝ|𝟑 ≤ 𝒙 < 𝟖}.
Then,
𝑨 ∪ 𝑩 = {𝒙 ∈ ℝ|𝟎 < 𝒙 < 𝟖},
𝑨 ∩ 𝑩 = {𝒙 ∈ ℝ|𝟑 ≤ 𝒙 ≤ 𝟓},
𝑨\𝑩 = {𝒙 ∈ ℝ|𝟎 < 𝒙 < 𝟑},
𝑨′ = {𝒙 ∈ ℝ|𝒙 ≤ 𝟎 𝒐𝒓 𝒙 > 𝟓}.
Let 𝐴 and 𝐵 be nonempty sets and 𝑥 ∈ 𝐴, 𝑦 ∈ 𝐵. The ordered pair (𝑥, 𝑦)
is defined to be the set {{𝑥}, {𝑥, 𝑦}}.
4. Given sets 𝐴 and 𝐵, we can define a new set 𝐴 × 𝐵, called the Cartesian
product of 𝐴 and 𝐵, as a set of ordered pairs. That is,
𝐴 × 𝐵 = {(𝑥, 𝑦)|𝑥 ∈ 𝐴, 𝑦 ∈ 𝐵}
6 Math 134n: Abstract Algebra

.
Example 3. If 𝐴 = {1, 2, 3} and 𝐵 = {𝑒, 𝑙}, then 𝐴 × 𝐵 is given by
{(1, 𝑒), (1, 𝑙), (2, 𝑒), (2, 𝑙), (3, 𝑒), (3, 𝑙)}

We define the Cartesian product of 𝑛 sets to be

𝐴1 × 𝐴2 × . . .× 𝐴𝑛 = {{(𝑎1 , 𝑎2 , . . . , 𝑎𝑛 )|𝑎𝑖 ∈ 𝐴𝑖 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑖 = 1, 2, . . . , 𝑛}.
If 𝐴 = 𝐴1 = 𝐴2 = . . . = 𝐴𝑛 , we often write 𝐴𝑛 for 𝐴 × 𝐴 × . .. × 𝐴 (where 𝐴
would be written 𝑛 times). For example, the set ℝ3 consists of all of the 3-tuples
of real numbers.

Learning Tasks/Activities
Practice Exercise 1.1. Perform the following as indicated.
1. Given that 𝑈 = {𝑥 ∈ ℤ ∶ 0 ≤ 𝑥 ≤ 20}. Let 𝑃, 𝑂, 𝐸, and 𝐹 be subsets of U
defined as follows:
𝑃 = {𝑥 | 𝑥 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 },
𝑂 = {𝑥 ∶ 𝑥 𝑖𝑠 𝑛 𝑜𝑑𝑑 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 },
𝐸 = {𝑥 ∶ 𝑥 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 },
𝐹 = {𝑥 ∶ 7|𝑥}.
Determine each of the following:
(a) (𝑃 ∩ 𝐸) ∪ 𝐹
(b) (𝑃\𝑂)′}
(c) (𝑃 ∩ 𝑂) × (𝐹\𝑂)
(d) 𝑃′ ∩ 𝐸′ ∩ 𝐹′
(e) (𝑃 ∪ 𝐸 ∪ 𝐹)’
(f) (𝑃 ∪ 𝑂)\(𝐸 ∪ 𝐹)
(g) 𝒫(𝐹)
(h) |𝒫(𝑃 ∩ 𝑂)|
2. For sets 𝐴 and 𝐵, prove that if 𝒫(𝐴) ⊆ 𝒫(𝐵), then 𝐴 ⊆ 𝐵.
7 Math 134n: Abstract Algebra

Assessment
Problem Set 1.1 Prove/disprove each of the following statements using the indicated
method of proof.
1. (direct proof) The square of every odd integer is one more than an integral
multiple of 4.
2. (by contrapositive) If 𝑎 and 𝑏 are real numbers such that the product 𝑎𝑏 is an
irrational number, then either 𝑎 or 𝑏 must be an irrational number.
3. (proof by contrapositive) Suppose 𝑥, 𝑦 ∈ ℝ. If 𝑦 3 + 𝑦𝑥 2 ≤ 𝑥 3 + 𝑥𝑦 2 , then 𝑦 ≤
𝑥.
4. (proof by contradiction) The number log 2 is irrational.
5. (proof by contradiction ) If 𝑎, 𝑏 ∈ ℤ, then 𝑎2 − 4𝑏 ≠ 2.
6. Use the principle of mathematical induction to prove the following.
a. 6 ∙ 7𝑛 − 2 ∙ 3𝑛 is divisible by 4 for all nonnegative integers 𝑛.
b. 𝑛! ≥ 3𝑛, 𝑛 = 7, 8, …
1 1 1 𝑛
c. + + ⋯ + = for 𝑛 ∈ ℕ.
2 6 𝑛(𝑛+1) 𝑛+1
7. Prove or disprove: For any real number 𝑥, 𝑥 2 ≥ 𝑥.
8. Prove or disprove: If 6 is prime, then 72 is even.