The Size of a Set 1

Cardinality, Finite Sets

Amber Habib Department of Mathematics Shiv Nadar University

Abstract Notes for the Precalculus course taught to 1st year students of the B.S. Mathematics program.

Cardinality

Exercise 1.1 Consider the following sets. Which has more elements? A = {, , , } B = {, , , , }

Chances are that you solved this exercise by counting and reasoned that A has four elements while B has ve elements, and therefore B has more elements than A. However, the problem can be solved without counting. We simply pair o elements one by one, for example matching with , with , with , and with . Finding that A has been emptied but B has not (in our example, still remains) we can conclude that B has more elements. In fact, it has been recorded that children who have not yet made the connection between numbers and measurement can still compare sizes of small collections in this manner. A child asked to distribute toees in equal amounts among two dolls will take two toees at a time, give one to each doll, and repeat until the toees are exhausted.1 What we are working up to is the idea that for talking about the size of sets the fundamental step is to dene what we mean by two sets having the same size, and we can do this without involving numbers.
For example, see Paper 2: Understanding Whole Numbers of the report Key Understandings in Mathematics Learning commissioned by the Nueld Foundation, 2009. URL: http:// www.nueldfoundation.org/key-understandings-mathematics-learning.
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Denition 1.2 Two sets are said to have the same cardinality if there is a bijection from one to the other. We write |A| = |B| to indicate that sets A and B have the same cardinality. We have introduced the word cardinality as a substitute for size or number of elements partly as a reminder that the fundamental idea does not involve counting as such. A bijection is the formal equivalent of matching elements one-by-one. Example 1.3 Consider the sets A = {, , , } C = {, , , } We can dene a bijection f : A C by f () = , f () = , f () = , f () = Therefore A and C have the same cardinality: |A| = |C|. 2

Example 1.4 Let A be a non-empty set. It does not have the same cardinality as the empty set . For, let f : A be a bijection and take any element a A. Then f (a) contradicts the denition of . 2 These examples illustrate two aspects. To show two sets have the same cardinality we have to exhibit a bijection between them, typically by constructing one. To show they do not have the same cardinality, denoted |A| = |B|, we have to show the impossibility of having a bijection and this is usually done by contradiction. Exercise 1.5 Show that 1. |A| = |A| if A is non-empty. 2. If |A| = |B| and |B| = |C| then |A| = |C| It should be kept in mind that we have not yet dened cardinality of a set as a stand-alone concept. We have only set up a denition of what we would mean by having the same cardinality! In other words, we have dened what we mean by writing |A| = |B| but we have not given a specic meaning to |A| itself. This is why |A| = |A| is not a complete triviality. In order to justify this statement we need to produce a bijection A A. With our current notion of a function as a rule for associating elements of one set to those of another, we cannot conceive of a function with domain , and do not automatically get || = ||. We will therefore adopt this as a convention.

It can happen that a proper subset of a set can have the same cardinality! For example, dene f : N N \ {1} by f (n) = n + 1. Then f is easily seen to be a bijection and so |N| = |N \ {1}|. The following example is even more striking a subset we would normally think of as having half the size of the original, turns out to have the same cardinality. Example 1.6 Let 2N denote the set of even natural numbers. Then f : N 2N dened by f (n) = 2n is a bijection. Hence |N| = |2N|. 2 Denition 1.7 Let n N. Dene Sn = {1, . . . , n}. Also dene S0 = . Exercise 1.8 Show that |Sm Sn | = |Smn |. Example 1.9 We shall prove that |Sn | = |N| for any n = 0, 1, 2, . . . . For suppose f : Sn N is any function. Let m = 1 + n f (i). Then m > f (i) for i=1 each i and so m f (Sn ). Therefore f is not surjective. 2 Theorem 1.10 Let A B C. If |A| = |C| then |B| = |C|. Proof: Let f : C A be a bijection. Dene X1 = C \ B and, inductively, Xn+1 = f (Xn ). Let X = n Xn . Dene g : C B by g(x) = f (x) x X x xX

We rst check the codomain of g is indeed B. If x X, then g(x) = f (x) A B. If x X then x X1 implies g(x) = x B. Next we check that g is an injection. The only interesting case is when g(x) = g(y) with x X, y X. But then we have y = f (x) f (X) X, a contradiction. Finally, we check that g is a surjection. Let b B. First, suppose b X. Then b X1 and so b Xn+1 = f (Xn ) with n 1. Let x Xn with f (x) = b. Then g(x) = f (x) = b. Finally, let b X. The g(b) = b. 2 Once we have xed the idea of same size we can go farther and talk of larger or smaller. Denition 1.11 We say that the cardinality of a non-empty set A is not more than that of B if there is an injection f : A B. In this case we write |A| |B|. We also dene || |A| for every set A. The idea is that the injection succeeds in matching every element of A with some element of B and thus shows that B has at least as many elements as A. Exercise 1.12 Show that |A| |B| if and only if B has a subset with the same cardinality as A.

Exercise 1.13 Show that if |A| |B| and |B| |C| then |A| |C|. Theorem 1.14 There is an injection from A to B if and only if there is a surjection from B to A. Proof: First, let f : A B be an injection. Then for each b f (A), f 1 {b} is a singleton and we let xb be its single member. Also, let x0 be any member of A. Now dene g : B A by g(b) = xb b f (A) x0 b f (A)

The map g is a surjection since for any x A we have g(f (x)) = x. For the converse, let g : B A be a surjection. Then for each x A, g 1 {x} is non-empty. Select one element bx from each set g 1 {x} (We are using Axiom of Choice!). Now dene f : A B by f (x) = bx . If f (x) = f (a) = b then b g 1 {x} g 1 {a} implies a = x. Therefore f is an injection. 2 This shows that |A| |B| if and only if there is a surjection from B to A. Theorem 1.15 (Schrder-Bernstein Theorem) Let |A| |B| and |B| o |A|. Then |A| = |B|. Proof: Let f : A B and g : B A be injections. Then g f : A A is an injection and so |g f (A)| = |A|. Since g f (A) g(B) A we have |g(B)| = |A|. Then |B| = |g(B)| implies |B| = |A|. 2 This result makes it much easier to establish that two sets have the same cardinality, as we need to only create injections from each into the other. Denition 1.16 We say that the cardinality of a set A is (strictly) less than that of B if |A| |B| and |A| = |B|. In this case we write |A| < |B|. Exercise 1.17 Show that 1. || < |A| if A is non-empty. 2. If |A| |B| and |B| |C| and either inequality is strict, then |A| < |C|. Exercise 1.18 Show that |Sn | < |N| for any n.

Finite Sets and their Properties

We have an intuitive idea of which sets are nite and which innite. The prototypical nite sets are the Sn dened above. We begin by establishing their properties vis-a-vis cardinality. 4

Theorem 2.1 Let f : Sn Sn . Then f is an injection if and only if it is a surjection. Proof: First, suppose f is an injection. If k f (Sn ) then consider the sequence f i (k). It is easily seen that all the members of this sequence are distinct, which is impossible. Therefore f is surjective. Next, suppose f is a surjection. Then there is an injection g : Sn Sn such that g f = id. Then g is a bijection, and so is f . 2 Theorem 2.2 Let A Sn . If |A| = |Sn | then A = Sn . Proof: Let |A| = |Sn |. Let f : Sn A be a bijection. Consider the inclusion map : A Sn , (a) = a. Then f : Sn Sn is an injection, and hence a bijection. So A = f (Sn ) = f (Sn ) = Sn . 2 Theorem 2.3 Let |A| |Sn |. Then |A| = |Sm | for some m n. Proof: We shall prove this by induction on n. The statement is true if n = 0 for |A| |S0 | = || implies A = = S0 . So assume Sn has this property. Now let |A| |Sn+1 |. Then there is an injection f : A Sn+1 . Case I: f is onto. Then |A| = |Sn+1 |. Case II: n + 1 f (A). Then f : A Sn and so, by the induction hypothesis, |A| = |Sm | with m n < n + 1. Case III: n + 1 f (A) and k n such that k f (A). Now let a A such that f (a) = n + 1. Then dene g : A Sn by g(x) = k x=a f (x) x = a 2

Then g : A Sn is injective and so |A| = |Sm | with m n < n + 1.

These results form the basis for the following sequence of denitions and characterizations. Denition 2.4 A set A is called nite if no proper subset has the same cardinality. Theorem 2.5 A set A is nite if and only if |A| = |Sn | for some n = 0, 1, 2, . . . Proof: If |A| = |Sn | then A has the dening property of a nite set because Sn does. Conversely, suppose |A| = |Sn | for all n = 0, 1, 2, . . . . We have to show A has a bijection with a proper subset. 5

Since |A| = |S0 | = || we have an element k1 A. Since |A| = |S1 | we have an element k2 A with k2 = k1 . Proceeding in this manner, we nd a sequence k1 , k2 , k3 , . . . of distinct elements of A. Let B = {k1 , k2 , k3 , . . . }. Dene g : A A \ {k1 } by g(x) = ki+1 x = ki x xB 2

Then g is a bijection of A with a proper subset.

Since the Sn have dierent cardinalities, we observe that a nite set has the same cardinality as a unique Sn . Denition 2.6 Let |A| = |Sn |. Then we say A has cardinality n, or that A has n elements, and write |A| = n. So for nite sets we now have the concept of cardinality as an object associated to the set here it is a whole number. Exercise 2.7 What is the cardinality of: 1. 2. {, , , } 3. {, , , , } Exercise 2.8 Let |A| = m and B A. Show that B is a proper subset of A if and only if |B| < m. (In particular, every subset of a nite set is nite.) Exercise 2.9 Let |A| = m and |B| = n. Show that there is an injection A B if and only if m n. Exercise 2.10 Let |A| = m and |B| = n and m n. Show that: 1. |A B| = mn 2. |A B| m, with equality if and only if B A 3. |A B| m + n, with equality if and only if A and B are disjoint 4. |A B| n, with equality if and only if B A 5. |A B| = |A| + |B| |A B|