Discrete Mathematics

LECTURE 14, 15
Set Operations

Course Instructor:
1 Rida Memon
Set Operations: Union

AUB
U

A B

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Set Operations: Union

 Formal definition for the union of two sets:

A U B = { x | x  A or x  B }

 Further examples
 {1, 2, 3} U {3, 4, 5} = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}

 {New York, Washington} U {3, 4} = {New York, Washington,

3, 4}

 {1, 2} U  = {1, 2}

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Set Operations: Union

 Properties of the union operation

 AU=A Identity law
 AUU=U Domination law
 AUA=A Idempotent law
 AUB=BUA Commutative law
 A U (B U C) = (A U B) U C Associative law

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Set Operations: Intersection

A∩B
U

A B

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Set Operations: Intersection
 Formal definition for the intersection of two sets: A ∩ B =
{ x | x  A and x  B }

 Further examples
 {1, 2, 3} ∩ {3, 4, 5} = {3}

 {New York, Washington} ∩ {3, 4} = 

 No elements in common

 {1, 2} ∩  = 
 Any set intersection with the empty set yields the empty set

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Set Operations: Intersection

 Properties of the intersection operation

 A∩U=A Identity law
 A∩= Domination law
 A∩A=A Idempotent law
 A∩B=B∩A Commutative law
 A ∩ (B ∩ C) = (A ∩ B) ∩ C Associative law

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 Disjoint Sets
• Two sets are disjoint if the have NO elements in common

• Formally, two sets are disjoint if their intersection is the

empty set

• Another example: the set of the even numbers and the set
of the odd numbers

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Disjoint Sets
U

A B

Overlapping Sets
U

A B
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Disjoint Sets

 Further examples
 {1, 2, 3} and {3, 4, 5} are not disjoint

 {New York, Washington} and {3, 4} are disjoint

 {1, 2} and  are disjoint

 Their intersection is the empty set

  and  are disjoint!

 Their intersection is the empty set

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 Set Operations: Difference
• A difference of two sets is the elements in one set that are
NOT in the other.

• Difference symbol is a minus sign

• Example:
C=M-P
• Also visa-versa:

C=P-M

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Set Operations: Difference

A-B

A B
Set Operations: Difference
 Formal definition for the difference of two sets:
_
A - B = { x | x  A and x  B }
A-B=A∩B  Important!

 Further examples
 {1, 2, 3} - {3, 4, 5} = {1, 2}

 {New York, Washington} - {3, 4} = {New York, Washington}

 {1, 2} -  = {1, 2}
 The difference of any set S with the empty set will be the set S

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Set Operations: Symmetric Difference

• A symmetric difference of the sets contains all the elements

in either set but NOT both.

• Symmetric diff. symbol is a 

• Example:
C=MP

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Set Operations: Symmetric Difference
 Formal definition for the symmetric difference of two
sets:
A  B = { x | (x  A or x  B) and x  A ∩ B}
A  B = (A U B) – (A ∩ B)  Important!

 Further examples
 {1, 2, 3}  {3, 4, 5} = {1, 2, 4, 5}
 {New York, Washington}  {3, 4} = {New York, Washington, 3, 4}
 {1, 2}   = {1, 2}
 The symmetric difference of any set S with the empty set will be the set
S
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 Complement of Sets
• A complement of a set is all the elements that are NOT
in the set

• Difference symbol is a bar above the set name: or

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Complement of Sets
_
A
U

A B
A

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Complement of Sets
_
B
U

A B

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Complement of Sets

 Formal definition for the complement of a set: A = { x | x  A }

 Or U – A, where U is the universal set

 Further examples (assuming U = Z)

 {1, 2, 3} = { …, -2, -1, 0, 4, 5, 6, … }

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 Complement of Sets

 Properties of complement sets

 ¯
¯A = A Complementation law
 AU¯
A=U Complement law
 A ∩¯
A= Complement law

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Set Identities

 Set identities are basic laws on how set operations work

 Many have already been introduced on previous slides
 Just like logical equivalences!
 Replace U with 
 Replace ∩ with 
 Replace  with F
 Replace U with T

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Set Identities: De-Morgan
Again
 These should look
very familiar…

A B  A B
A B  A B

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How to Prove a Set Identity

 For example: A∩B=B-(B-A)

 Five methods:
 Use Venn Diagram
 Use the basic set identities
 Use membership tables
 Prove each set is a subset of each other
 This is like proving that two numbers are equal by showing
that each is less than or equal to the other
 Use set builder notation and logical equivalences

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Use Venn Diagrams
A∩B=B-(B-A)

A B

B-(B-A)
A∩B B-A

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 Proof by using basic set identities
 Prove that A∩B=B-(B-A)
A  B  B-(B  A ) Definition of difference
 B (B  A ) Definition of difference
 B (B  A ) DeMorgan’s law
 B (B  A) Complementation law
 (B  B ) (B  A) Distributive law
  (B  A) Complement law
 (B  A) Identity law
 A B Commutative law 25
Membership Table

• Membership tables show all the combinations of

sets an element can belong to
– 1 means the element belongs, 0 means it does not
• Consider the following membership table:
A B AUB A∩B A-B
1 1 1 1 0
1 0 1 0 1
0 1 1 0 0
0 0 0 0 0
• The top
bottom
third
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toneither
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–
 Thus, these elements
Thus, these elements are
are in
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the difference 26
Proof by Membership Tables

 Thefollowing membership table shows that

A∩B=B-(B-A)
A B A∩B B-A B-(B-A)
1 1 1 0 1
1 0 0 0 0
0 1 0 1 0
0 0 0 0 0

• Because the two indicated columns have the

same values, the two expressions are identical
• This is similar to Boolean logic!
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Reading Assignment

 Chapter 2

 Section 2.2
 Page 127 – 132
 Page 134 – 135
 Page 138

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Practice Questions

 Chapter 2

 Section 2.2
 All related Questions
 Problem 63 - 65

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Thanks

 End of Lecture
 Q/A

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