|
Finite Set
In mathematics, particularly set theory, a finite set is a set that has a finite number of elements. Informally, a finite set is a set which one could in principle count and finish counting. For example, :\ is a finite set with five elements. The number of elements of a finite set is a natural number (possibly zero) and is called the '' cardinality (or the cardinal number)'' of the set. A set that is not a finite set is called an ''infinite set''. For example, the set of all positive integers is infinite: :\. Finite sets are particularly important in combinatorics, the mathematical study of counting. Many arguments involving finite sets rely on the pigeonhole principle, which states that there cannot exist an injective function from a larger finite set to a smaller finite set. Definition and terminology Formally, a set is called finite if there exists a bijection :f\colon S\to\ for some natural number . The number is the set's cardinality, denoted as . The empty set o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics with the major subdisciplines of number theory, algebra, geometry, and analysis, respectively. There is no general consensus among mathematicians about a common definition for their academic discipline. Most mathematical activity involves the discovery of properties of abstract objects and the use of pure reason to prove them. These objects consist of either abstractions from nature orin modern mathematicsentities that are stipulated to have certain properties, called axioms. A ''proof'' consists of a succession of applications of deductive rules to already established results. These results include previously proved theorems, axioms, andin case of abstraction from naturesome basic properties that are considered true starting points of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Subset
In mathematics, Set (mathematics), set ''A'' is a subset of a set ''B'' if all Element (mathematics), elements of ''A'' are also elements of ''B''; ''B'' is then a superset of ''A''. It is possible for ''A'' and ''B'' to be equal; if they are unequal, then ''A'' is a proper subset of ''B''. The relationship of one set being a subset of another is called inclusion (or sometimes containment). ''A'' is a subset of ''B'' may also be expressed as ''B'' includes (or contains) ''A'' or ''A'' is included (or contained) in ''B''. A ''k''-subset is a subset with ''k'' elements. The subset relation defines a partial order on sets. In fact, the subsets of a given set form a Boolean algebra (structure), Boolean algebra under the subset relation, in which the join and meet are given by Intersection (set theory), intersection and Union (set theory), union, and the subset relation itself is the Inclusion (Boolean algebra), Boolean inclusion relation. Definition If ''A'' and ''B'' are sets and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Countable
In mathematics, a set is countable if either it is finite or it can be made in one to one correspondence with the set of natural numbers. Equivalently, a set is ''countable'' if there exists an injective function from it into the natural numbers; this means that each element in the set may be associated to a unique natural number, or that the elements of the set can be counted one at a time, although the counting may never finish due to an infinite number of elements. In more technical terms, assuming the axiom of countable choice, a set is ''countable'' if its cardinality (its number of elements) is not greater than that of the natural numbers. A countable set that is not finite is said countably infinite. The concept is attributed to Georg Cantor, who proved the existence of uncountable sets, that is, sets that are not countable; for example the set of the real numbers. A note on terminology Although the terms "countable" and "countably infinite" as defined here are quite comm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Power Set
In mathematics, the power set (or powerset) of a set is the set of all subsets of , including the empty set and itself. In axiomatic set theory (as developed, for example, in the ZFC axioms), the existence of the power set of any set is postulated by the axiom of power set. The powerset of is variously denoted as , , , \mathbb(S), or . The notation , meaning the set of all functions from S to a given set of two elements (e.g., ), is used because the powerset of can be identified with, equivalent to, or bijective to the set of all the functions from to the given two elements set. Any subset of is called a ''family of sets'' over . Example If is the set , then all the subsets of are * (also denoted \varnothing or \empty, the empty set or the null set) * * * * * * * and hence the power set of is . Properties If is a finite set with the cardinality (i.e., the number of all elements in the set is ), then the number of all the subsets of is . This fact as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cartesian Product
In mathematics, specifically set theory, the Cartesian product of two sets ''A'' and ''B'', denoted ''A''×''B'', is the set of all ordered pairs where ''a'' is in ''A'' and ''b'' is in ''B''. In terms of set-builder notation, that is : A\times B = \. A table can be created by taking the Cartesian product of a set of rows and a set of columns. If the Cartesian product is taken, the cells of the table contain ordered pairs of the form . One can similarly define the Cartesian product of ''n'' sets, also known as an ''n''-fold Cartesian product, which can be represented by an ''n''-dimensional array, where each element is an ''n''-tuple. An ordered pair is a 2-tuple or couple. More generally still, one can define the Cartesian product of an indexed family of sets. The Cartesian product is named after René Descartes, whose formulation of analytic geometry gave rise to the concept, which is further generalized in terms of direct product. Examples A deck of cards An ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inclusion–exclusion Principle
In combinatorics, a branch of mathematics, the inclusion–exclusion principle is a counting technique which generalizes the familiar method of obtaining the number of elements in the union of two finite sets; symbolically expressed as : , A \cup B, = , A, + , B, - , A \cap B, where ''A'' and ''B'' are two finite sets and , ''S'', indicates the cardinality of a set ''S'' (which may be considered as the number of elements of the set, if the set is finite). The formula expresses the fact that the sum of the sizes of the two sets may be too large since some elements may be counted twice. The double-counted elements are those in the intersection of the two sets and the count is corrected by subtracting the size of the intersection. The inclusion-exclusion principle, being a generalization of the two-set case, is perhaps more clearly seen in the case of three sets, which for the sets ''A'', ''B'' and ''C'' is given by :, A \cup B \cup C, = , A, + , B, + , C, - , A \cap B, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Union (set Theory)
In set theory, the union (denoted by ∪) of a collection of sets is the set of all elements in the collection. It is one of the fundamental operations through which sets can be combined and related to each other. A refers to a union of zero (0) sets and it is by definition equal to the empty set. For explanation of the symbols used in this article, refer to the table of mathematical symbols. Union of two sets The union of two sets ''A'' and ''B'' is the set of elements which are in ''A'', in ''B'', or in both ''A'' and ''B''. In set-builder notation, :A \cup B = \. For example, if ''A'' = and ''B'' = then ''A'' ∪ ''B'' = . A more elaborate example (involving two infinite sets) is: : ''A'' = : ''B'' = : A \cup B = \ As another example, the number 9 is ''not'' contained in the union of the set of prime numbers and the set of even numbers , because 9 is neither prime nor even. Sets cannot have duplicate elements, so the union of the sets and is . Multip ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Surjective Function
In mathematics, a surjective function (also known as surjection, or onto function) is a function that every element can be mapped from element so that . In other words, every element of the function's codomain is the image of one element of its domain. It is not required that be unique; the function may map one or more elements of to the same element of . The term ''surjective'' and the related terms ''injective'' and ''bijective'' were introduced by Nicolas Bourbaki, a group of mainly French 20th-century mathematicians who, under this pseudonym, wrote a series of books presenting an exposition of modern advanced mathematics, beginning in 1935. The French word '' sur'' means ''over'' or ''above'', and relates to the fact that the image of the domain of a surjective function completely covers the function's codomain. Any function induces a surjection by restricting its codomain to the image of its domain. Every surjective function has a right inverse assuming the axiom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Axiom Of Countable Choice
The axiom of countable choice or axiom of denumerable choice, denoted ACω, is an axiom of set theory that states that every countable collection of non-empty sets must have a choice function. That is, given a function ''A'' with domain N (where N denotes the set of natural numbers) such that ''A''(''n'') is a non-empty set for every ''n'' ∈ N, there exists a function ''f'' with domain N such that ''f''(''n'') ∈ ''A''(''n'') for every ''n'' ∈ N. Overview The axiom of countable choice (ACω) is strictly weaker than the axiom of dependent choice (DC), which in turn is weaker than the axiom of choice (AC). Paul Cohen showed that ACω is not provable in Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory (ZF) without the axiom of choice . ACω holds in the Solovay model. ZF+ACω suffices to prove that the union of countably many countable sets is countable. It also suffices to prove that every infinite set is Dedekind-infinite (equivalently: has a countably infinite s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Axiom Of Choice
In mathematics, the axiom of choice, or AC, is an axiom of set theory equivalent to the statement that ''a Cartesian product of a collection of non-empty sets is non-empty''. Informally put, the axiom of choice says that given any collection of sets, each containing at least one element, it is possible to construct a new set by arbitrarily choosing one element from each set, even if the collection is infinite. Formally, it states that for every indexed family (S_i)_ of nonempty sets, there exists an indexed set (x_i)_ such that x_i \in S_i for every i \in I. The axiom of choice was formulated in 1904 by Ernst Zermelo in order to formalize his proof of the well-ordering theorem. In many cases, a set arising from choosing elements arbitrarily can be made without invoking the axiom of choice; this is, in particular, the case if the number of sets from which to choose the elements is finite, or if a canonical rule on how to choose the elements is available – some distinguishin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mathematical Proof
A mathematical proof is an inferential argument for a mathematical statement, showing that the stated assumptions logically guarantee the conclusion. The argument may use other previously established statements, such as theorems; but every proof can, in principle, be constructed using only certain basic or original assumptions known as axioms, along with the accepted rules of inference. Proofs are examples of exhaustive deductive reasoning which establish logical certainty, to be distinguished from empirical arguments or non-exhaustive inductive reasoning which establish "reasonable expectation". Presenting many cases in which the statement holds is not enough for a proof, which must demonstrate that the statement is true in ''all'' possible cases. A proposition that has not been proved but is believed to be true is known as a conjecture, or a hypothesis if frequently used as an assumption for further mathematical work. Proofs employ logic expressed in mathematical symbols ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zermelo–Fraenkel Set Theory
In set theory, Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory, named after mathematicians Ernst Zermelo and Abraham Fraenkel, is an axiomatic system that was proposed in the early twentieth century in order to formulate a theory of sets free of paradoxes such as Russell's paradox. Today, Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory, with the historically controversial axiom of choice (AC) included, is the standard form of axiomatic set theory and as such is the most common foundation of mathematics. Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory with the axiom of choice included is abbreviated ZFC, where C stands for "choice", and ZF refers to the axioms of Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory with the axiom of choice excluded. Informally, Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory is intended to formalize a single primitive notion, that of a hereditary well-founded set, so that all entities in the universe of discourse are such sets. Thus the axioms of Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory refer only to pure sets and prevent its models from containing u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
