Math 2112 Solutions

Assignment 6
7.1.31 Given a set S and a subset A, the characteristic function of A,
denoted A , is a funtion defined from S to Z with the property that
for all u S,

1 if u A
A (u) =
0 if u 6 A.
Show that each of the following holds for all subsets A and B of S and
all u S.
a. AB (u) = A (u) B (u)
b. AB (u) = A (u) + B (u) A (u) B (u)
a. Proof: Suppose u A B. Then AB (u) = 1. But then u A and
u B so a (u) B (u) = 1 and hence LHS = RHS.
Suppose a 6 A B. Then AB (u) = 0. But then either u 6 A or u 6 B,
so either A (u) = 0 or B (u) = 0. Therefore A (u) B (u) = 0, and hence
LHS = RHS.
b. Proof: Suppose u A and u B. Then AB (u) = 1. Also, A (u) = 1
and B (u) = 1, so A (u) + B (u) A (u) B (u) = 1. So LHS = RHS. The
other three cases follow analagously.
7.1.34 Prove that there are infinitely many integers n for which (n)
is a perfect square.
Proof: From 7.1.33, we know that if p is a prime number and k is an integer with k 1, then (pk ) = pk pk1 . Consider p = 2. Then
(2k ) = 2k 2k1 = 2k1 = (2

k1
2

)2 .

Thus (2k ) is a perfect square whenever k is odd. Thus there are infinitely
many integers n such that (n) is a perfect square.
7.3.44 Let f (x) = 2x+1
for all real numbers x 6= 0. If the co-domain is
x
the set of all real numbers not equal to 2, is f (x) a one-to-one correspondence? If so, find the inverse.
Proof: f(x) is one-to-one: Suppose x1 , x2 R with x1 , x2 6= 0 such that
2x1 + 1
x1
(2x1 + 1)x2
2x1 x2 + x2
x2

=
=

2x2 + 1
x2
(2x2 + 1)x1
2x1 x2 + x1

x1 .

Therefore f (x) is one-to-one.

f(x) is onto: Let y R such that y 6= 2. Let
1
2y
1
1

x =
x(2 y) =
2x xy =

2x + 1 = xy
2x + 1
= y
x
Therefore yx such that f (x) = y. Therefore f (x) is onto.
Let f 1 (x) =

1
2x .

Then
f f 1 (x)

1
)
2x
1
2( 2x
)+1

= f(
=
=
=
=

1
2x
2+2x
2x
1
2x

x 2 x

2 x 1
x

Similarly, f 1 f (x) = x.
7.3.46 a. Let X = {x1 , x2 , ..., xn } be a set with n elements. Use Example 7.3.8 as a model to define a one-to-one correspondence from
P(X), the set of all subsets of X, to the set of all strings of 0s and
1s that have length n.
b. Use the one-to-one correspondence of part (a) to deduce that a
set with n elements has 2n subsets.
a. Proof: Define f : P(X) 7 {0, 1}n as f (A) is equal to the binary vector
with a 1 in column i iff xi A and 0 otherwise.
f is one-to-one: Suppose f (A) = f (B). Then A and B must have the same elements, so A = B.
f is onto: Let {0, 1}n . Create a set A such that xi A iff the ith column of is a 1. Therefore A P(X) and f (A) = .
b. Proof: Since there is a one-to-one correspondence between P(X) and
{0, 1}n , they must have the same cardinality. The set {0, 1}n has 2n elements,
so so must P(X).
2

7.4.31 A penny collection contains twelve 1967 pennies, seven 1968

pennies, and eleven 1971 pennies. If you are to pick some pennies
without looking at the dates, how many must you pick to be sure of
getting at least five pennies from the same year?

Proof: If we take twelve pennies, we could get four from each year. Thus, by
the pigeonhole principle, if we take thirteen pennies, we must get five from some
particular year.

7.4.33 Let A be a set of six positive integers each of which is less that
13. Show that there must be two distinct subsets of A whose elements
when added up give the same sum.

Proof: The largest possible sum for any subset must be 57 since 57 = 12 + 11 +
10 + 9 + 8 + 7. The smallest possible sum is 0 since all the integers are positive
but we may take the empty set. Thus there are 58 possible sums. We create a
function from the subsets to the integers from 0 to 57. A subset gets mapped
to the sum of its elements. There are 64 possible subsets of a six element set.
Thus, since 64 > 58, by the pigeonhole principle, our function cannot be oneto-one. Therefore there exists a number which has two subsets mapped to it.
Therefore, there exists two subsets with the same sum.

7.4.37 Show that in any sequence of n2 +1 distinct real numbers, there

must be a sequence of length n + 1 which is either strictly increasing
or strictly decreasing.

Proof: Let a1 , a2 , ..., an2 +1 be a sequence of n2 + 1 distinct real numbers. Let f

be a function such that f (aj ) = (ij , dj ), with ij being the length of the longest
increasing sequence starting at aj and dj being the length of the longest decreasing sequence starting at aj . Suppose that f (aj ) = f (ak ) for j 6= k. Assume that
j < k. Thus ij = ik , and dj = dk . Since aj and ak are distinct real numbers,
either aj > ak or aj < ak .
If aj > ak , then dj 6= dk , since we may simple add aj to the start of the
sequence which is decreasing of length dk starting at ak and we may obtain a
decreasing sequence of length dk + 1 starting at aj .
If aj < ak , then ij 6= ik , since we may simple add aj to the start of the sequence which is increasing of length ik starting at ak and we may obtain a
decreasing sequence of length ik + 1 starting at aj . Thus f is one-to-one.

Assume by way of contradiction that there is no increasing or decreasing sequence of length n + 1 among a1 , a2 , ...an2 +1 . Then for all k, 1 ik n and
1 dk n. Therefore, there are n2 distinct pairs of the form (ik , dk ). But
f maps each ak to a pair (ik , dk ), and we know that f is one-to-one. By the
pigeonhole principle, this is a contradiction.
Therefore, there must be an increasing or decreasing subsequence of length n+1.