Mathematical Language and Symbols

1. MATHEMATICS AS A LANGUAGE
Mathematical language is used to express mathematical ideas and concepts.

1.1 Characteristics of mathematical language

A. Precise
Preciseness of mathematical expression or statements is best learned through understanding
the language of mathematics.
B. Concise
The language of mathematics is concise because it uses symbols instead of spelled- out words
for shortness of statements.
C. Powerful
Mathematics is powerful because students can only perform well in problem solving if they
understand the language of mathematics.

1.2 Expressions vs. Sentences

An expression is any correct arrangement of mathematics symbols, used to represent a
mathematical object of interest.

A mathematical sentence is a correct arrangement of mathematical symbols stating a

complete thought. The most common mathematical statements or sentences are called
equations and inequalities.
A mathematical sentence that is sometimes true or sometimes false is called an open
sentence. A closed sentence if the mathematical sentence is definitely true or definitely
false.

2. BASIC MATHEMATICAL CONCEPTS

2.1 Sets
A set is a collection or grouping of elements. These elements can be anything such as
numbers, letters, names, sentences etc.

Describing sets
● Roster (or List) Method
The simplest way of describing a set is to just list its elements separated by commas
inside a pair of braces.
● Rule (or Description) Method
Another way of describing a set is giving a description that befits each of the elements.

Operations On Sets
● Union
The union (∪) operation combines all elements of two sets.
Any element that occurs in both sets only occurs once in the new set.
 ● Intersection
The intersection (∩) operation contains all elements found in two sets.
In other words, the intersection of two sets contains only the elements common to
both sets.
● Complement
The complement (′) of a set, denoted A’, identifies the elements of the universal set U
that are not in A.
● Difference
The difference of two sets A and B, denoted A − B, is defined to be the set whose
elements are those of A that are not in B.
● Cartesian Product
The Cartesian Product or Cross Product of two sets A and B, denoted A × B, is
the set of all ordered pairs (x, y), such that x ∈ A and y ∈ B.

2.2 Functions and Relations

A relation R is any set of ordered pairs (x, y).
The set of all x-components is called the domain while the set of all y-components is called the
range.

A function is a special kind of relation. In a function, every element of the domain is related with
one and only one element of the range. This means that no two distinct ordered pairs have the
same first components.

2.3 Binary Operations

A binary operation on a set is a rule for combining two elements of the set, to produce another
element of the same set. A binary operation * defined on a non-empty set S is a rule that
assigns to each ordered pair (a, b) of elements of S a unique element a*b ∈ S.

Properties of a Binary Operation

1. Closure Property
The binary operation * defined on a set A is closed on set A if and only if a*b ∈ A for any a, b ∈
A.

2. Commutative Property
A binary operation* defined on a set A is said to be commutative if a*b = b*a for any a, b ∈ A.

3. Associative Property
A binary operation * defined on a set A is said to be associative if (a*b)*c = a*(b*c) for any a, b,
c ∈ A.

4. Existence of an Identity Element

If * is a binary operation on A, an element m ∈ A is an identity element of A with respect to * if a
* m = m * a = a for any a ∈ A
5. Existence of an Inverse Element
Let * be a binary operation on A with identity m, and let a ∈ A.
If there exists an element b ∈ A such that a*b = b*a = m, then b is called the inverse element of
a.

2.4 Elementary Logic

Logic is the primary basis of all mathematical reasoning. As such, it is concerned with the
investigation of consequences that hold between the premises and the conclusion of a sound
argument.

An argument is said to be sound (valid, correct) if its conclusions follows from, or is a

consequence of its premises; otherwise it is unsound.

Statements (Propositions)
A statement (or proposition) is the basic building block of logical reasoning. It is a declarative
sentence that is either true or false, but not both. If it is true, its truth value is said to be T (true);
otherwise, it is an F (false).

Compound Statements
Statements constructed by connecting one or more simpler statements are called compound
statements. The simpler statements are connected together by using connectives such as
“not”, ‘‘and”, “or”, “if...then”, “only if”, and “if and only if”.

Negation (¬)
The negation of a statement is denial of the statement. To negate a statement, the symbol ¬ is
used.

Conjunction (∧)
A conjunction consists of 2 or more simpler statements that are connected by the word “and ”,
represented by the symbol ∧. That is, the conjunction p ∧ q represents the compound
statement “p and q”.

Disjunction (∨)
A disjunction consists of 2 or more simpler statements that are connected by the word “or ”,
represented by the symbol ∨. That is, the conjunction p ∨ q represents the compound
statement “p or q”.

Implication (->)
An implication (also called conditional) consists of two cause-and-effect statements. One is a
premise and the other is a consequence that are connected by the words “if...then”.

The symbol -> is used. That is, the implication p -> q represents the compound statement “if p
then q”.
Double Implication (<->)
A double implication (also called biconditional) is a statement of the form

(p -> q) ^ (q -> p),

SUMMARY
● The three characteristics of mathematical language are precise, concise and powerful.
● An expression is just a mathematical phrase; a part of a sentence while sentence is
complete mathematical statement with a complete thought.
● There are two types of sentences; open sentences (mathematical sentence that is
sometimes true or sometimes false) and closed sentence (mathematical sentence that is
definitely true or definitely false).
● A set is collection or grouping of elements which can be written in roster and rule
method.
● The five operations on sets are union, intersection, complement, difference, and
Cartesian product.
● A function is a special kind of relation with x-components called domain and y-
components called range.
● A binary operation on a set is a rule for combining two elements of the set, to produce
another element of the same set with the following properties: closure, commutative,
associative, existence of an identity element, and existence of an inverse element.
● A statement (or proposition) is a declarative sentence that is either true or false, but not
both.