Math 360, Fall 2021, Assignment 1

By one of those caprices of the mind, which we are perhaps most subject to in early youth, I at once gave up my former occupations; set down natural history and all its progeny as a deformed and abortive creation; and entertained the greatest disdain for a would-be science, which could never even step within the threshold of real knowledge. In this mood of mind I betook myself to the mathematics, and the branches of study appertaining to that science, as being built upon secure foundations, and so, worthy of my consideration.

- Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

Read:

1. Section 0.

Carefully define the following terms, then give one example and one non-example of each:

1. Containment (of sets).
2. Equality (of sets).
3. Property.
4. Ordered pair.
5. Cartesian product (of two sets).

Carefully state the following theorems (you do not need to prove them):

1. Russell's paradox (this is not really a theorem, but it is an important fact).
2. Basic counting principle (relating the size of $A\times B$ to the sizes of $A$ and $B$).

Solve the following problems:

1. Section 0, problems 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 11.
2. Prove that for any set $S$, it must be the case that $\emptyset\subseteq S$. (Hint: begin with "Suppose not. Then by the definition of set containment, there must be some member of $\emptyset$ which is not a member of $S$. But...".)
3. Now suppose $S$ is any set with $S\subseteq\emptyset$. Prove that $S=\emptyset$. (Hint: use the previous result together with the definition of set equality.)
4. The previous two exercises show that $\emptyset$ is the "smallest of all sets." Is there a "largest of all sets?" (For more information on this question as well as on Russell's Paradox and its resolutions, see Wikipedia: Universal Set.)

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Solutions:

1. Containment of sets is defined as being "inside" a set. There are two ways of being "inside". \begin{itemize} \item Being contained as elements, using notation $\in$ \item Being contained as a subset, using notations $\subset$ or $\subseteq$ \end {itemize}