Module 1: Set, Relations & Functions

Set
Set theory forms the basis of several other fields of study like counting theory, relations, graph theory and
finite state machines. In this chapter, we will cover the different aspects of Set Theory.

Set - Definition

A set is an unordered collection of different elements. A set can be written explicitly by listing its elements
using set bracket. If the order of the elements is changed or any element of a set is repeated, it does not
make any changes in the set.

Finite and Infinite Sets

 Countable and Uncountable Set

Uncountable Sets
A set which is not countable is Uncountable Set.

Theorem 1: Prove that the set Q of rational numbers is countable.

Theorem 2: The product set of NxN is countable Set.

Theorem 3: The set of all real numbers in the open interval (0,1) is uncountable set.
 Cantor’s Diagonal Argument
Theorem: The set {𝟎, 𝟏}∞ is an uncountable set.
Proof:

The Power Set

In set theory, the power set (or power set) of a Set A is defined as the set of all subsets of the Set A
including the Set itself and the null or empty set. It is denoted by P(A). Basically, this set is the
combination of all subsets including null set, of a given set.

Example of Power Set

Let us say Set A = { a, b, c }
Number of elements: 3
Therefore, the subsets of the set are:
{ } which is the null or the empty set
{a}
{b}
{c}
{ a, b }
{ b, c }
{ c, a }
{ a, b, c }
The power set P(A) = { { } , { a }, { b }, { c }, { a, b }, { b, c }, { c, a }, { a, b, c } }
Now, the Power Set has 23 = 8 elements.

Cardinality of Power Set

Cardinality represents the total number of elements present in a set. In case of power set, the cardinality
will be the list of number of subsets of a set. The number of elements of a power set is written as |P
(A)|, where A is any set. If A has ‘n’ elements then the formula to find the number of subsets of a set
in a power set is given by:
|P(A)| = 2n
For example, set A = {1, 2, 3}
n = number of elements of A = 3
So, the number of subsets in a power set of A will be:
Subsets of A = {}, {1}, {2}, {3}, {1,2}, {2,3}, {1,3}, {1,2,3,}
P|A| = 23 = 8
Hence, P(A) is {{}, {1}, {2}, {3}, {1,2}, {2,3}, {1,3}, {1,2,3,}}

Properties of Power Set

1. It is much larger than the original set.
2. The number of elements in the power set of A is 2n, where n is the number of elements in set
A
3. The power set of a countable finite set is countable.
4. For a set of natural numbers, we can do one-to-one mapping of the resulted set, P(S), with the
real numbers.
5. P(S) of set S, if operated with the union of sets, the intersection of sets and complement of sets,
denotes the example of Boolean Algebra.

Power Set of Empty Set

An empty set has zero elements. Therefore, the power set of an empty set { }, can be mentioned as;
1. A set containing a null set.
2. It contains zero or null elements.
3. The empty set is the only subset.

Practice Problems

1. Find the power set of a set X = {p, q, r, s, t}.

2. How many elements will be there in the power set of set A = {5, 6, 7, 8}
3. State whether the following statement is true.
For any set A, the empty set is an element of the power set of A.

Operations and Laws of Sets

 Properties of Set Operations
Set operations have several important properties that govern their behavior. Here are some fundamental
properties of set operations:
Closure Property
1. Set operations are closed under their respective operations, meaning that performing an operation on
sets results in another set.
2. For example, the union, intersection, and difference of sets always produce sets as their results.
Commutative Property
1. Union: A ∪ B = B ∪ A
2. Intersection: A ∩ B = B ∩ A
3. Symmetric Difference: A Δ B = B Δ A
Associative Property
1. Union: (A ∪ B) ∪ C = A ∪ (B ∪ C)
2. Intersection: (A ∩ B) ∩ C = A ∩ (B ∩ C)
Distributive Property
1. Union over Intersection: A ∪ (B ∩ C) = (A ∪ B) ∩ (A ∪ C)
2. Intersection over Union: A ∩ (B ∪ C) = (A ∩ B) ∪ (A ∩ C)
Identity Property
1. Union: A ∪ ∅ = A
2. Intersection: A ∩ U = A, where U represents the universal set
3. Symmetric Difference: A Δ ∅ = A
Complement Property
1. Union: A ∪ A’ = U, where U is the universal set
2. Intersection: A ∩ A’ = ∅ (the empty set)
Absorption Property
1. Union over Intersection: A ∪ (A ∩ B) = A
2. Intersection over Union: A ∩ (A ∪ B) = A
Definitions: Cartesian Products, Binary Relation, Partial Ordering Relation, Equivalence Relation,
Image of a Set, Sum and Product of Functions, Bijective Functions, Inverse and Composite Function

Cartesian Products and Relations

1. Let A= {1,3,5}, B={2,3} and C={4,6}. Find the following Cartesian product:
(i) A×B
(ii) B×A
(iii) (A ∪ B) × C
(iv) (A × B) ∪ C
(v) A ∩ (B × C)
(vi) (A × B) ∪ (B × C)
(vii) (A × B) ∪ (B × A)
(viii) (A × B) ∩ (B × C)

2. Let A= {2,3}, B={-1,2} and C={a,b}. Verify the following Cartesian product:
(i) (A) × (B ∪ C) = (A × B) ∪ (A × C)
(ii) (A) × (B ∩ C) = (A × B) ∩ (A × C)

3. Find x and y in each of the following cases:

(i) (2𝑥 − 3, 3𝑦 + 1) = (5,7)
(ii) (𝑥 + 2, 4) = (5,2𝑥 + 𝑦)
(iii) (2x+1, x+y)=(6,1)
(iv) (𝑦 − 2, 2𝑥 + 1) = (𝑥 − 1, 𝑦 + 2)

4. Let A = {1, 2, 3, 4}. Find the relation R = {(a, b) | a divides b}.

 5. Consider these relations on the set of integers:
R1 = {(a,b) | a ≤ b}, R4 = {(a,b) | a = b},
R2 = {(a,b) | a > b}, R5 = {(a,b) | a = b + 1},
R3 = {(a,b) | a = b or a = −b}, R6 = {(a,b) | a + b ≤ 3}.
Which of these relations contain each of the pairs?
(1,1), (1, 2), (2, 1), (1, −1), and (2, 2)?

6. If A= {a, b, c} is a set with 3 elements and B={1,2}is a set with 2 elements, find the number
of relation from A to B.

7. Let A and B be finite sets with |𝐵| = 3. If there are 4096 relations from A to B, what is |𝐴|?

8. Let A={1,2,3} and B={2,4,5}. Determine the following:

a. |𝐴 × 𝐵|.
b. Number of relations from A to B.
c. Number of relations on A.
d. Number of relations from A, B that contain exactly 5 ordered pairs.
e. Number of relations on A that contain at least 7 ordered pairs.

Functions-Types of Functions; Function Composition and Inverse Functions

1. Define injective, surjective, and bijective function. write short notes on Composition of
Functions.

2. Let A = {0, ±1, ±2, 3}. Consider the functions 𝑓: 𝐴 → 𝑅 (where r is the set of all real numbers)
defined by 𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑥 3 − 2𝑥 2 + 3𝑥 + 1, for 𝑥 ∈ 𝐴. Find the range of 𝑓.

3. Let a function 𝑓: 𝑅 → 𝑅 be defined by 𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑥 2 + 1. Determine the image of the following

subsets of R:

(i) 𝐴1 = (2,3)
(ii) 𝐴2 = {−2,0,3}
(iii) 𝐴3 = (0,1)
(iv) 𝐴4 = [−6,3]

4. Let A ={1,2,3,4,5,6} and B={6,7,8,9, 10}. If a function 𝑓: 𝐴 → 𝐵 is defined by

𝑓 = {(1,7), (2,7), (3,8), (4,6), (5,9), (6,9)} determine𝑓 −1 (6) and 𝑓 −1 (9). If 𝐵1 = {7,8} and
𝐵2 = {8, 9, 10}, 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑓 −1 (𝐵1)𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓 −1 (𝐵2 ) .

5. Let 𝑓: 𝑅 → 𝑅 be defined by

3𝑥 − 5 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑥 > 0 5 5
𝑓(𝑥) = { . (i) Determine 𝑓(0), 𝑓(−1), 𝑓 (3) , 𝑓(− 3).
−3𝑥 + 1 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑥 ≤ 0

(iii) Find𝑓 −1 (0), 𝑓 −1 (1), 𝑓 −1 (−1), 𝑓 −1 (3), 𝑓 −1 (−3), 𝑓 −1 (−6).

 6. If function 𝑓: 𝑅 → 𝑅 𝑖𝑠 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑥 2 + 5, 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑓 −1 ([−6,7]), 𝑓 −1 ([6,10]) and
𝑓 −1 ([5, ∞)).

7. If A={1,2,3,4,5} and B={6,7,8,9,10,11,12}, find how many functions 𝑓: 𝐴 → 𝐵 are such that
𝑓 −1 ({6, 7,8}) = {1,2}?

8. If A is a finite set with |𝐴| = 𝑛, find how many functions are there from A to A.

9. The functions 𝑓: 𝑅 → 𝑅 and g: : 𝑅 → 𝑅 are defined by 𝑓(𝑥) = 3𝑥 + 7 for all 𝑥𝜖 𝑅, 𝑔(𝑥) =

𝑥(𝑥 3 − 1) for all 𝑥𝜖 𝑅. Verify that f is one-to-one but g is not.

10. The functions 𝑓: 𝑅 → 𝑅 ; 𝑔: 𝑅 → 𝑅 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ: 𝑅 → 𝑅 is defined as

𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑥 3 ; 𝑔(x) = 4x2 + 1 ; ℎ(𝑥) = 7𝑥 − 1

find rule of defining (hog)of, go(hof).

11. If there are 2187 functions 𝑓: 𝐴 → 𝐵 and |B|=3, what is |A|?

5. Given 𝑓: 𝑍 → 𝑍. Find whether function is one-to-one and whether it is onto. If the function is
not onto, determine range f(Z). f(x)=x+7.
6. Let A={1,2,3,4}, B={1,2,3,4,5,6}. (a) How many functions are there from A to B. How many
are one-to-one and how many are onto? (b) How many functions are there from B to A. How
many are one-to-one and how many are onto?

7. Consider the function 𝑓: 𝑅 → 𝑅 defined by 𝑓(𝑥) = 2x + 5. Let a function 𝑔: 𝑅 →

1
𝑅 be defined by g(x) = 2 (𝑥 − 5). Prove that g is an inverse of f.
8. Consider the function 𝑓: 𝑅 → 𝑅 defined by 𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑥 2 , ∀𝑥 ∈ 𝑅. Is 𝑓 invertible?

9. Let 𝐴 = 𝐵 = 𝐶 = 𝑅, and 𝑓: 𝐴 → 𝐵 and 𝑔: 𝐵 → 𝐶 be defined by

1
𝑓(𝑎) = 2𝑎 + 1, 𝑔(𝑏) = 3 𝑏, ∀𝑎 ∈ 𝐴, ∀𝑏 ∈ 𝐵.
Compute 𝑔𝑜𝑓 and show that 𝑔𝑜ℎ is invertible. What is (𝑔𝑜𝑓)−1.
10. For the function 𝑓 and 𝑔 from R to R given below, verify that (𝑔𝑜𝑓)−1=𝑓 −1 𝑜 𝑔−1 . (i) 𝑓(𝑥) =
1 1
2𝑥, 𝑔(𝑥) = 3𝑥 − 2 (ii) 𝑓(𝑥) = 2 (𝑥 + 1), 𝑔(𝑥) = 2 (𝑥 − 1)

Zero-One Matrices and Directed Graphs

1. Define zero-one matrices and directed graphs. Let A={1,2} and B={p,r,s} and let the relation R
from A to B be defined by 𝑅 = {(1, 𝑞), (1, 𝑟), (2, 𝑝), (2, 𝑞), (2, 𝑠)}.

2. Let A={1,2,3,4} and let R be the relation on A defined by 𝑥𝑅𝑦 if and only if "𝑥 𝑑𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑠 𝑦", written
𝑥|𝑦.
ii. Write down R as a set of ordered pairs and matrix form
iii. Draw the digraph of R.
iv. Determine the in-degrees and out-degrees of the vertices in the digraph.
 3. Let A={1,2,3,4,6} and R be a relation on A defined by 𝑎𝑅𝑏 if and only if 𝑎 is a multiple of 𝑏. Write
down the relation R. Also represent the relation R as a matrix and draw its digraph.

Properties of relations; Partial Orders – Hasse Diagrams, Equivalence Relations,

Partitions and Lattices
1. Let 𝐴 = {1,2,3}. Determine the nature of the following relations on 𝐴:
i. 𝑅1 = {(1,2), (2,1), (1,3), (3,1)}.
ii. 𝑅2 = {(1,1), (2,2), (3,3), (2,3)}.
iii. 𝑅3 = {(1,1), (2,2), (3,3)}.
v. 𝑅4 = {(1,1), (2,2), (3,3), (2,3), (3,2)}.
vi. 𝑅5 = {(1,1), (2,3), (3,3)}.
vii. 𝑅6 = {(2,3), (3,4), (2,4)}.
viii. 𝑅7 = {(1,3), (3,2)}.

2. If R is an equivalence relation on a set A, then 𝑅 −1 is also an equivalence relation on A.

3. Define union and intersection of relations. Also define complement of a relation and converse
of a relation. Consider the sets 𝐴 = {𝑎, 𝑏, 𝑐} and 𝐵 = {1,2,3} and the relations 𝑅 =
{(𝑎, 1), (𝑏, 1), (𝑐, 2), (𝑐, 3)] and 𝑆 = {(𝑎, 1), (𝑎, 2), (𝑏, 1), (𝑏, 2)} from A to B. Determine
̅ 𝑆̅, 𝑅 ∪ 𝑆, 𝑅 ∩ 𝑆, 𝑅 𝑐 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑆 𝑐 .
𝑅,
4. Consider the set 𝐴 = {1,2,3,4,5} and the equivalence relation 𝑅=
{(1,1), (2,2), (2,3), (3,2), (3,3), (4,4), (4,5), (5,4), (5,5)} defined on 𝐴. Find the partition of 𝐴
induced by 𝑅.

5. Let 𝐴 = {1,2,3,4,5,6,7} and 𝑅 be the equivalence relation on 𝐴 that induces the partition 𝐴 =
{1,2} ∪ {3} ∪ {4,5,7} ∪ {6}.

6. Let 𝐴 = {1,2,3,4} and 𝑅 = {(1,1), (1,2), (2,2), (2,4), (1,3), (3,3), (3,4), (1,4), (4,4)} . Verify
that 𝑅 is a partial order on 𝐴. Also write down the Hasse diagram for 𝑅.

7. A partial order 𝑅 on the set 𝐴 = {1,2,3,4} is represented by the following diagraph.

Draw the Hasse diagram for 𝑅.

8. Let A={1,2,3,4,6,12}. On A, define the relation R by aRb if and only if a divides b. Prove that R
is a partial order on A. Draw the Hasse diagram for this relation.
9. Draw the Hasse diagram representing the positive divisors of 36.
10. Draw the Hasse diagram of the relation R on A= {1,2,3,4,5} whose matrix is as given below:
1 0 1 1 1
0 1 1 1 1
𝑀𝑅 = ||0 0 1 1 1||
0 0 0 1 0
0 0 0 0 1