SubsetIn mathematics, set A is a subset of a set B if all elements of A are also elements of B; B is then a superset of A. It is possible for A and B to be equal; if they are unequal, then A is a proper subset of B. The relationship of one set being a subset of another is called inclusion (or sometimes containment). A is a subset of B may also be expressed as B includes (or contains) A or A is included (or contained) in B. A k-subset is a subset with k elements. The subset relation defines a partial order on sets.
Countable setIn mathematics, a set is countable if either it is finite or it can be made in one to one correspondence with the set of natural numbers. Equivalently, a set is countable if there exists an injective function from it into the natural numbers; this means that each element in the set may be associated to a unique natural number, or that the elements of the set can be counted one at a time, although the counting may never finish due to an infinite number of elements.
Set (mathematics)A set is the mathematical model for a collection of different things; a set contains elements or members, which can be mathematical objects of any kind: numbers, symbols, points in space, lines, other geometrical shapes, variables, or even other sets. The set with no element is the empty set; a set with a single element is a singleton. A set may have a finite number of elements or be an infinite set. Two sets are equal if they have precisely the same elements. Sets are ubiquitous in modern mathematics.
Cartesian productIn mathematics, specifically set theory, the Cartesian product of two sets A and B, denoted A × B, is the set of all ordered pairs (a, b) where a is in A and b is in B. In terms of set-builder notation, that is A table can be created by taking the Cartesian product of a set of rows and a set of columns. If the Cartesian product rows × columns is taken, the cells of the table contain ordered pairs of the form (row value, column value).
Category (mathematics)In mathematics, a category (sometimes called an abstract category to distinguish it from a ) is a collection of "objects" that are linked by "arrows". A category has two basic properties: the ability to compose the arrows associatively and the existence of an identity arrow for each object. A simple example is the , whose objects are sets and whose arrows are functions. is a branch of mathematics that seeks to generalize all of mathematics in terms of categories, independent of what their objects and arrows represent.
Ring (mathematics)In mathematics, rings are algebraic structures that generalize fields: multiplication need not be commutative and multiplicative inverses need not exist. In other words, a ring is a set equipped with two binary operations satisfying properties analogous to those of addition and multiplication of integers. Ring elements may be numbers such as integers or complex numbers, but they may also be non-numerical objects such as polynomials, square matrices, functions, and power series.
Singleton (mathematics)In mathematics, a singleton, also known as a unit set or one-point set, is a set with exactly one element. For example, the set is a singleton whose single element is . Within the framework of Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory, the axiom of regularity guarantees that no set is an element of itself. This implies that a singleton is necessarily distinct from the element it contains, thus 1 and {1} are not the same thing, and the empty set is distinct from the set containing only the empty set.
Image (mathematics)In mathematics, the image of a function is the set of all output values it may produce. More generally, evaluating a given function at each element of a given subset of its domain produces a set, called the "image of under (or through) ". Similarly, the inverse image (or preimage) of a given subset of the codomain of is the set of all elements of the domain that map to the members of Image and inverse image may also be defined for general binary relations, not just functions. The word "image" is used in three related ways.
Universal setIn set theory, a universal set is a set which contains all objects, including itself. In set theory as usually formulated, it can be proven in multiple ways that a universal set does not exist. However, some non-standard variants of set theory include a universal set. Many set theories do not allow for the existence of a universal set. There are several different arguments for its non-existence, based on different choices of axioms for set theory. In Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory, the axiom of regularity and axiom of pairing prevent any set from containing itself.
Field of setsIn mathematics, a field of sets is a mathematical structure consisting of a pair consisting of a set and a family of subsets of called an algebra over that contains the empty set as an element, and is closed under the operations of taking complements in finite unions, and finite intersections. Fields of sets should not be confused with fields in ring theory nor with fields in physics. Similarly the term "algebra over " is used in the sense of a Boolean algebra and should not be confused with algebras over fields or rings in ring theory.