Properties of crisp set: All at one place

Properties of crisp set helps us to simplify many mathematical set operations. Crisp set are collection of unordered, district elements. We can perform various crisp set operations on the crisp set. It is recommended to reader to first navigate through the crisp set operations for better understanding of properties of crisp set.

Crisp set possesses following properties. We will demonstrate each of them with suitable example.

We will be using following sets for the further discussion:

X = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}

A = {1, 2, 3},

B = {2, 3, 4},

C = {5, 6}

Involution:

Involution states that the complement of complement of set A would be set A it self.

For given data,

A’ = X – A = {4, 5, 6}

(A’)’ = X – A’ = {1, 2, 3} = A

Commutativity:

Commutativity property states that the operation can be performed irrespective of order of the operand. For example, addition is commutative operator, so 2 + 3 or 3 + 2 yields the same result. But, subtraction is not commutative, so 3 – 2 ≠ 2 – 3.

Associativity:

Associativity property allows us to perform the operations by grouping the operands and keeping them in similar order.

Distributivity:

Mathematically it is defined as,

Absorption:

Mathematically absorption is defined as,

Idempotency/Tautology:

Idempotency is defined as,

A ∪ A = A

A ∩ A = A

For the given data,

A ∪ A = {1, 2, 3} = A

A ∩ A = {1, 2, 3} = A

Identity:

Mathematically, we can define this property as,

A ∪ X = X

A ∩ X = A

A ∪ ϕ = A

A ∩ ϕ = ϕ

For the given data,

A ∪ X = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6} = X

A ∩ X = {1, 2, 3} = A

A ∪ ϕ = {1, 2, 3} = A

A ∩ ϕ = { } = ϕ

De Morgan’s Laws:

Mathematically, De Morgan’s laws are defined as,

Law of Contradiction:

Mathematically it is defined as,

A ∩ A’ = ϕ

For the given data:

A’ = {4, 5, 6}

A ∩ A’ = { } = ϕ

Law of Excluded Middle:

Mathematically it is defined as,

A ∪ A’ = X

For the given data:

A’ = {4, 5, 6}

A ∪ A’ = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6} = X

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Test Your Knowledge:

Let X = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8}, A = {1, 2, 3, 5}, B = {1, 3, 4, 6, 7}, C = {2, 4, 6, 8}. Prove following properties for given sets.

• Involution
• Commutativity
• Associativity
• Distributivity
• Absorption
• Idempotency
• Identity
• De Morgan’s Laws
• Law of Contradiction
• Law of Excluded Middle

Please post your answer / query / feedback in comment section below !