The Real Number System

1.1 Sets and Operations on Sets

In this section, we shall define sets and operations on sets that the reader is already familiar with and will use standard notation. Examples are deemed not necessary for this section and have not been provided.

1.1D1 Definition: Sets

A set is a well defined collection of objects and can be described by listing its objects or elements and also may be defined as the collection of all elements x satisfying a given property. Thus the notation

A = {x} P(x)}

defines A to be the set of all elements x satisfying the condition P(x). This reads as "A equals the set of all elements x such that P(x)."

Notation:x [member of] A means that x is an element of the set A. x [not member of] A means that x is not an element of the set A.

We may also use the notation from A = {x member of]/P(x)} to mean that only the elements x from the set X are being used.

We will assume that the set of natural numbers or positive integers have already being defined. This set will be denoted by N or or {1, 2, 3, ...}.

We will also assume that the set of integers have already being defined. This set will be denoted by Z or {0, ± 1, ± 2, ± 3, ...}.

Furthermore, the set of rational numbers with the binary operations of addition and multiplication will be denoted by Q. We shall also assume all the properties of Q.

The set without any members is called the empty (or null) set and is denoted by Ø

1.1D2 Definition: Equality of Sets

Two sets A and B are said to be equal if every element of A is an element of B and every element of B is an element of A. In this case, we write A = B. A ≠ B means that the set A is not equal to the set B.

1.1D3 Definition: Subsets of Sets

A set A is said to be a subset of a set B or A is said to be contained in B if every element of A is also an element of B. In this case, we use the notation: A ⊆ B. If A ⊆ B and A ≠ B, then we say that A is a proper subset of B and use the notation A ⊂ B. Note that the empty set ∅ is a subset of any set A.

Note: A = B if and only if A ⊆ B and B ⊆ A.

1.1D4 Definition: Union, Intersection, and Complement of Sets

The union of sets A and B is the set of all elements that belong to A or B or both A and B and is denoted by A [union] B. Thus,

A [intersection] B = {x| x [member of] A or x [member of] B}.

The intersection of sets A and B is the set of all elements that belong to both A and B and is denoted by A [intersection] B. Thus,

A [intersection] B = {x | x [member of] A and x [member of] B}.

The relative complement of A in B or the complement of Arelative toB, denoted by B \ A is the set of all elements in B that are not elements of A. Thus

B \ A = x [member of] B | x [not member of] A.

If A is a subset of some fixed set X consisting of all the elements under consideration, then X \ A is referred to as the complement of A and is denoted by Ac. Thus

Ac = {x | x [not member of] A}.

1.1T1 Theorem: Distributive and DeMorgan's Laws

Let A, B, and C be sets. Then

(a) A [intersection] (B [union] C) = (A[intersection]B) [union] (A[intersection]C).

(b) A [union] (B[intersection]C) = (A[union]B) [intersection] (A[union]C).

(c) C \ (A [union]B) = (C\A) [intersection] (C\B).

(d) C \ (A [intersection]B) = (C\A) [union] (C\B).

(a) and (b) are referred to as the distributive laws, whereas (c) and (d) are known as DeMorgan Laws.

Proof: We will provide the proofs of (a) and (c). The proofs of (b) and (d) are left as an exercise.

(a) [MATHEMATICAL EXPRESSION NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]

This completes the proof of (a).

(c) [MATHEMATICAL EXPRESSION NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]

This completes the proof of (c).

1.1D5 Definition: The Power Set

Let A be a set. The set consisting of all the subsets of A is called the power set of A and is denoted by P(A). If a set has n elements, then its power set consists of 2n elements, i.e., the set has 2n subsets.

1.1D6 Definition: Cartesian Product

Let A and B be sets. Then the Cartesian product of A and B,, denoted by A × B, is the set of all ordered pairs (a, b), where the first component a is an element of A and the second component b is an element of B. Thus,

A × B = {a, b)| a [member of] A and b [member of] B}.

1.2 Relations and Functions

1.2D1 Definition: Relations and Functions

Let A and B be sets. Then a subset of the Cartesian product A × B is called a relation from A into B. If ρ is a relation from A into B, then the domain of ρ, denoted by Dom (ρ) is given by

Dom(ρ) = {a | (a,b) [member of] ρ}

The range of ρ, denoted by Ran (ρ), is given by

Ran (ρ){b|(a, b)[member of] ρ}.

A subset F of the Cartesian product A × B is called a function from A into B if the following condition is also satisfied:

(x, y1 [member of] F and (x, y2 [member of] F [right arrow] y1 = y2.

Notation: The domain and the range of F have already been defined because a function is also a relation. If F is a function and (x, y) [member of] F, then we may use the notation y = f (x), and may refer to the function as f or y = f(x) or simply f(x). If f is a function from A to (into) B, we say that f maps A to (into) B and use the notation: f : A [right arrow] B.

1.2D2 Definition: One-to-one and Onto Functions

Let f : A [right arrow]B. The function f is said to be onto if Ran(f) = B. In this case, we say that f is a function (mapping) from A onto B. The function f is said to be one-to-one (1-1) if the following condition is...