Assignment 1

course Mth 151

¬¢Òp|\¬ÇFʵ³šÔ’‹› –oÕ©|assignment #001

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Liberal Arts Mathematics I

06-23-2006

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21:08:22

Query 2.1.12 counting #'s 4 to 14

List the elements of the set.

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RESPONSE -->

{4, 5, 6, 7, ..., 14}

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21:09:06

**A list of the elements would just be 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. **

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RESPONSE -->

Ok - I was supposed to just list the numbers instead of making them into a set.

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21:09:48

query 2.1.24 set builder for set of presidents between LBJ and Clinton

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RESPONSE -->

{Nixon, Ford, Carter, Regan, Bush}

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21:12:45

** Set-builder notation is {x|x is a president who served between Lyndon Johnson and William Clinton}

x is a variable and the condition 'x is a president who served between Lyndon Johnson and William Clinton' tells you what possible things the variable can be.

COMMON ERROR: It's incorrect to say {x | x is the set of presidents who served between Johnson and Clinton}.

x is a president, not a set of presidents. Should be {x|x is a president who served between Lyndon Johnson and William Clinton} **

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RESPONSE -->

I just named the set. For ""set-builder notation"" I need to use the ""x l x"" statement.

{x l x is a president that served between LBJ and Clinton}

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21:14:23

2.1.40 finite or infinite: set of rat #'s 0 to 1

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RESPONSE -->

finite

""Set of rational numbers 0 to 1"" gives a set beginning and a set end. If there was not an ending it would be infinite.

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21:19:17

** Rational numbers have form p/q, where p and q are integers. Numbers like 5/8, 57/31, -3/5, -57843/7843, etc.

The subset {1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, ... } is just by itself an infinite set of rational numbers between 0 and 1.

Then you have things like 348/937, and 39827389871 / 4982743789, and a whole infinite bunch of others. There are thus infinitely many rational numbers in any interval of the real line.

COMMON MISCONCEPTION: finite, because it doesn't go on forever

Rational numbers have form p/q, where p and q are integers. Numbers like 5/8, 57/31, -3/5, -57843/7843, etc. Not all of these lie between 0 and 1, of course. **

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RESPONSE -->

I honestly have no idea what p/q means or what a rational number is for that matter. Oh... rational numbers are fractions? I understand now, I think.

The correct answer is infinite because there are countless rational numbers between 0 and 1. The fractions just get smaller and smaller. Right?

There is an infinite set of fractions that get smaller and smaller, and that alone makes the set infinite.

However fractions are densely distributed throughout the interval. There are infinitely many fractions which approach any point on the interval.

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21:23:32

2.1.48 n(A), A={x|x is a U.S. senator}

What is n(A) and why?

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RESPONSE -->

There are 100 U. S. senators. n = the total number of elements in a set. n(A) = 100

{1 senator, 2 senator, 3 senator, 4 senator, ..., 100 senator}

The total elements in this set are 100. So the cardinality is 100.

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21:23:46

** n(A) stands for the number of elements in the set--in this case for the number of senators. There are 100, 2 from each State. So n(A) = 100. **

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RESPONSE -->

ok

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21:25:16

query 2.1.54 {x|x is neagtive number}

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RESPONSE -->

This is well-defined. The person reading it will know what it means and there is no misunderstanding or assumptions. x = all negative numbers

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21:25:47

** This notation means all possible values of x such that x is a negative number.

The question is whether the set is well-defined or not.

It is in fact well-defined because there is a definite way to decide whether a given object is an element of the set, because there is a definite way to determine whether an object is a negative number or not.

ALTERNATIVE ANSWER: The set is well-defined because you have a criterion by which you can definitely decide whether something is or is not in the set. **

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RESPONSE -->

ok

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21:30:51

2.1.72 true or false 2 not subset of {7,6,5,4}

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RESPONSE -->

This is true because 2 is not included in the set of numbers. The only way it would be correct is if you picked a number from that set.

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21:36:51

** The statement is that 2 is not a subset. The statement is true because 2 isn't even a set, it's just a number. {2} is a set and could be a subset of something. 2 is just a number; it isn't a set so it can't be a subset of anything.

The usual answer is that 2 isn't a subset because 2 isn't in the set. However that's not the correct reason. The correct reason is that 2 isn't a set and a subset must be a set.

COMMON MISCONCEPTION: the statement says that 2 is not a subset, not that it is not an element of the set. So the reason it's not a subset is that 2 isn't a set at all, so it can't be a subset of anything. **

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RESPONSE -->

2 cannot be a subset of a set because it is not even a set. It is just a number.

The book on page 52 explains this differently. It doesn't say anything about subsets. It says that E ""is an element of"" and that slash E means ""is not an element of.""

I don't have the text, but I think this problem uses the subset symbol (like a U on its side) rather than the E-type symbol which represents set membership.

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21:41:50

2.1.84 C={4,10,12}, B={2,4,8,10}

Is it true or false that every element of C is also an element of B?

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RESPONSE -->

This is false. Every element in set C has to be in set B also. 4 and 10 match, but set C also has 12 which is not in set B.

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21:41:57

** Specifically it's false because the element 12 is in C but not in B. **

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RESPONSE -->

ok

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You did well on these questions. See my notes and let me know if you have questions.