CS201

Mathematics for Computer Science I

Lecture 3

Manindra Agrawal CS201: Lecture 3 1 / 14

Comparing Cardinalities

In the last lecture, we showed that |Q| = |Z| = |2Z| = ℵ0 .

Is |R| = |Z|?
I No.
I Proof by diagonalization.
It will be useful to first show that |N| = ℵ0 .
I Map 
2n + 1 if n ≥ 0
f (n) =
−2n if n < 0
is a bijection between Z to N.

Manindra Agrawal CS201: Lecture 3 3 / 14

Cardinality of R

Theorem
|R| =
6 ℵ0 .

Proof.
Consider a mapping f : N 7→ R.
Define a real number r as follows:
I The number is between 0 and 1.
I Check if the nth digit after decimal of f (n) is 0. If yes, nth digit after
decimal of r is set to 1.
I If not, nth digit after decimal of r is set to 0.

Manindra Agrawal CS201: Lecture 3 4 / 14

Cardinality of R

Number r is well-defined and so r ∈ R.

Suppose f (m) = r .
What is the value of mth digit of r ?
I If it is 0, then by definition of r , mth digit would be 1.
I If it is non-zero, then by definition of r , mth digit would be 0.
In either case, we have an impossibility and so our assumption that
f (m) = r is incorrect.
Since f was arbitrary function, there exists no bijection between N
and R.
Hence, |R| =
6 ℵ0 .

Manindra Agrawal CS201: Lecture 3 5 / 14

Cardinality of R

Previous theorem shows that R has a higher level of infinity than Z or

Q.
Let |R| = ℵ1 .
Intuitively, we see that ℵ0 < ℵ1 .
We make it precise using, again, mappings between sets.

Manindra Agrawal CS201: Lecture 3 6 / 14

Comparing Cardinalities

Definition
We say that |A| ≤ |B| if there exists a one-to-one map from A to B.

A one-to-one mapping from A to B embeds A into B without losing

any information.
Hence the definition is logical.
It holds true for all sets, whether finite or infinite.
The definition also fits with the Cantor-Bernstein-Schroeder Theorem
which, in this notation, states that if |A| ≤ |B| and |B| ≤ |A| then
|A| = |B|.

Manindra Agrawal CS201: Lecture 3 7 / 14

More Infinities

Are there infinities beyond ℵ1 ?

Yes, infinitely many!

Definition (Power Set)

For any set A, its power set, denoted by P(A) is defined as:

P(A) = {B | B ⊆ A}.

Manindra Agrawal CS201: Lecture 3 8 / 14

More Infinities

Theorem
For any A, |A| < |P(A)|.

Proof.
If A is finite, then |P(A)| = 2|A| , hence |A| < |P(A)|.
Suppose A is infinite.
Then mapping f (a) = {a} is a one-to-one map from A to P(A)
showing |A| ≤ |P(A)|.

|A| < |B| means |A| ≤ |B| and |A| =

6 |B|.

Manindra Agrawal CS201: Lecture 3 9 / 14

More Infinities

Let h be a map from A to P(A).

Define a subset B of A as:

B = {x | x ∈ A & x 6∈ h(x)}.

Suppose there exists y ∈ A such that h(y ) = B.

Is y ∈ B?
I If y ∈ B = h(y ) then by definition of B, y 6∈ B.
I If y ∈
6 B = h(y ), then by definition of B, y ∈ B.
An impossibility either way. Hence there is no bijection between A
and P(A).

Manindra Agrawal CS201: Lecture 3 10 / 14

More Infinities

Therefore, we can construct infinitely many levels of infinities as:

ℵ1 = |R| < P(R) < P(P(R)) < P(P(P(R))) < · · · .

Following shows that |R| ≤ |P(Z)|:

I Define map f : R 7→ P(Z) as:

f (n.d1 d2 d3 · · · ) = {n, 10|n|+1 d1 , 10|n|+2 d2 , 10|n|+3 d3 , · · · }.

I The key property of above set is that

n < 10|n|+1 d1 < 10|n|+2 d2 < 10|n|+3 d3 < · · · .
I f is one-to-one since two real numbers would differ in either their
integral part or a digit after decimal.
I In either case, the corresponding subsets of Z would be different.

Manindra Agrawal CS201: Lecture 3 11 / 14

More Infinities

Following shows that |P(N)| ≤ |R|:

I Define map g : P(N) 7→ R as:

g (A) = 0.b1 b2 b3 · · · ,

where bi = 1 if i ∈ A else bi = 0.
I g is one-to-one since for two distinct subsets of N there exists an i that
belongs to one but not other. And so the output of g on the two
subsets will differ on ith digit after decimal.
It is easy to give a one-to-one map from P(Z) to P(N), showing that

|R| = |P(Z)|.

Manindra Agrawal CS201: Lecture 3 12 / 14

Levels of Infinities

Let
ℵi = |P i (Z)|,
where P i (Z) stands for taking power-set i times and P 0 (Z) = Z.
We get an infinite sequence of infinities of cardinalities

ℵ0 < ℵ1 < ℵ2 < ℵ3 < · · · .

Are there infinities even higher than all of these?

Yes! One can show that construction of infinities can be continued
indefinitely.

Manindra Agrawal CS201: Lecture 3 13 / 14

Continuum Hypothesis

Are there infinities in between ℵi and ℵi+1 for any i?

Continuum Hypothesis states that there exist no infinities in between.
It has been shown that Continuum Hypothesis can neither be proved
not disproved in Zermalo-Fraenkel set theory.
Hence, it is independent of the standard axioms of set theory.
We can assume it to be true or false depending on our taste!

Manindra Agrawal CS201: Lecture 3 14 / 14