Weekly Challenge 07: Sets

CS/MATH 113 Discrete Mathematics

q2-team-13
Habib University — Spring 2023

1. Distributing over a Collection of Sets

Imagine a collection, S, of sets. S may be finite, i.e. ∃n ∈ Z∗ ∋ S = {S0 , S1 , S2 , S3 , . . . Sn },
or infinite, i.e., S = {S0 , S1 , S2 , S3 , . . .}.
S can be represented with the help of an index set, A, as S = {Si | i ∈ A}. When S is finite,
then A = {0, 1, 2, . . . , n}, otherwise A = Z∗ .
Union and intersection involving collections of sets are defined as follows.
[
Si = {x | ∃i ∈ A ∋ x ∈ Si }
i∈A
\
Si = {x | ∀i ∈ A (x ∈ Si )}
i∈A

(a) 5 points Show that

!
[ [
(T ∩ Si ) = T ∩ Si .
i∈A i∈A

(b) 5 points Show that

!
\ \
(T ∪ Si ) = T ∪ Si .
i∈A i∈A

Solution: [
(T ∩ Si )
i∈A

= {x | ∃i ∈ A ∋ (x ∈ T ) ∧ (x ∈ Si )} (set def initions)

= {x | ∃ i ∈ A ∋ (x ∈ Si ) ∧ (x ∈ T )} (commutative law)
= {x | (∃i ∈ A ∋ x ∈ Si ) ∧ (x ∈ T )}
= {x | (x ∈ T ) ∧ (∃i ∈ A ∋ x ∈ Si )} (commutative law)
!
[
=T ∩ Si
i∈A

1
CS/MATH 113 WC07: Sets q2-team-13

\
(T ∪ Si )
i∈A

= {x | ∀i ∈ A, (x ∈ T ) ∨ (x ∈ Si )} (set def initions)

= {x | ∀ i ∈ A, (x ∈ Si ) ∨ (x ∈ T )} (commutative law)
= {x | (∀i ∈ A ∋ x ∈ Si ) ∨ (x ∈ T )}
= {x | (x ∈ T ) ∨ (∀i ∈ A, x ∈ Si )} (commutative law)
!
\
=T ∪ Si
i∈A

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