INTRODUCTION TO MATHEMATICAL LOGIC

DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS & STATISTICS

FIRST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY, IBADAN, OYO STATE
COURSE TITLE : INTRODUCTION TO MATHEMATICAL LOGIC
COURSE CODE : MTH 103.
COURSE UNITS : 3 UNITS

K. B. Kasali INTRODUCTION TO MATHEMATICAL LOGIC January 16, 2023 1 / 10

RELATIONS

Definition: A relation is any subset of the Cartesian product A × B of any two sets A and B.
If R is a relation in A × B, i.e R ⊂ A × B, we say that R is a relation from A to B. If A = B,
we simply say R is a relation in A.
Examples:
(i). Let A and B be two nonempty sets such that A = {All male students in Tech-U} ,
B = {All female students in Tech-U}, A × B = {(a, b); a is a male, b is a female}.
R ⊂ A × B such that a ∼ b means a and b are of the same tribe.
(ii). Let A = {1, 2}, B = {3, 4, 5}; R ⊂ A × B. Therefore, R = {(x, y); y is a multiple of
x}; R = {(1, 3), (1, 4), (1, 5), (2, 4)}. However, empty relation occurs when we are unable to
find the relation for one object or thing. e.g. A, B ⊂ U = {all human
being}, A × B = {(x, y); x is a mother of y}, R ⊂ A × B; x ∼ y means y has two mothers.
Here, R = ∅.

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PROPERTIES OF RELATIONS

(1). Reflexive Property: Let R be a relation from a nonempty set A to B. R is said to be

reflexive if and only if xRx =⇒ x relates to x or (x, x) ∈ R.
Example: Let A, B ⊂ Z R ⊂ A × B = {(x, y); x is a factor of y}. (x, x) ∈ R, i.e xRx since x
is a factor of itself. Thus R is reflexive.

(2). Symmetric Property: A relation R ⊂ A × B is said to be symmetric if and only if

xRy =⇒ yRx or (x, y) ∈ R =⇒ (y, x) ∈ R.
However, a relation may be reflexive but not symmetric. e.g. Let A, B ⊂ Z; R ⊂ A × B and
R := {(x, y); x ≤ y}. (x, x) ∈ R since x ≤ x =⇒ R is reflexive. But R is not symmetric since
x ≤ y does not implies y ≤ x.

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PROPERTIES OF RELATIONS

(3). Transitive Property: A relation R ⊂ A × B is said to be transitive if xRy and yRz implies
xRz or (x, y) ∈ R, (y, z) ∈ R =⇒ (x, z) ∈ R.
e.g. Let x ∼ y means m/x − y. i.e m divides x − y. We claim that the relation ∼ is transtive.
Proof:
x−y x−x 0
=⇒ whole number k ∈ Z. x ∼ x as =⇒ = 0 ∈ Z. Thus x ∼ x =⇒ Reflexive.
m m m
x ∼ y =⇒ m/x − y =⇒ m/ − (x − y) =⇒ m/y − x ≡ y ∼ x. Therefore, x ∼ y =⇒ y ∼ x.
Hence, the relation is symmetric.
For transitivity; x ∼ y =⇒ m/x − y and y ∼ z =⇒ m/y − z. Then there exist k1 ∈ Z such that
x−y
= k1 =⇒ x = mk1 + y (i)
m
y−z
y ∼ z =⇒ m/y − z =⇒ there exist k2 ∈ Z such that = k2 =⇒ y = mk2 + z (ii)
m
Substituting equation (ii) into equation (i), we have; x = mk1 + mk2 + z = m(k1 + k2 ) + z
x−z
But k1 , k2 ∈ Z, k1 + k2 = k ∈ Z. Then, x = mk + z =⇒ = k ∈ Z =⇒ x ∼ z. Hence,
m
the relation is transitive.
NOTE: A relation is said to be equivalent if it is reflexive, symmetric and transitive.

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Exercises

Show whether or not the relation denoted by ∼ is an equivalent relation on the indicated sets;
(i). m ∼ n in Z if m − n is divisible by 2.
(ii). m ∼ n in N if m and n have no common factor other than 1.
(iii). A ∼ B in a collection E of subsets of a set X if A ∩ B = ∅.

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Cardinality of Sets

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Countable Sets

Definition: A set is called finite if it is either empty or the range of a finite sequence. A set is
called countable (denumerable) if it is either empty or the range of a sequence.

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Countable Sets

Proposition 1.1: Every subset of a countable set is countable

Proof:
Let E := {xn } be a countable set, and let A be a subset of E. If A is empty, A is countable by
definition. If A is not empty,choose x in A. Define a new sequence < yn > by seting yn = xn if
xn ∈ A and yn = x if xn ∈ / A. Then A is the range of < yn > and it is therefore countable.

Proposition 1.2: The set of all rational numbers is countable.

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Countable Sets

Proposition 1.3: The union of a countable collection of countable sets is countable.

Proof

Let E be a countable collection of countable sets. If all the sets in E are empty, the union is
empty and thus countable. Thus we may as well assume that E contains nonempty sets, and
since the empty set contributes nothing to the union of E, we can assume that the sets in E are
nonempty. Thus E is the range of an infinite sequence < An >∞ n=1 , and each An is the range of
an infinite sequence < xnm >∞ nm=1 . But the mapping of < n, m > to xnm is a mapping of the
set of order pairs of natural numbers onto the union of E. Since the set of pairs of natural
numbers is countable, the union of the collection E must also be countable.

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Countable Sets

Proposition 1.4: Let A be a countable set. Then the set of all finite sequence from A is also
countable.

Proof:
Since A is countable, it can be put into one-one correspondence with a subset of the set N of
natural numbers. This suffices to prove that the set S of all finite sequences of natural numbers
is countable. Let < 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, · · · , pk , · · · > be the sequence of prime numbers. Then each
x
n ∈ N has a unique factorization of the form n = 2x1 , 3x2 , · · · , pkk , where xi ∈ N′ = N ∪ {0}
and xk > 0. Let f be the function on N that assigns to the natural number n the finite sequence
< x1 , · · · , xk > from N′ . Then S is a subset of the range of f . Hence S is countable by
proposition 1.1.

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