To define sets:
To define a set using roster method, explicitly list its elements. That is, start with \(\{\) then list elements of the set separated by commas and close with \(\}\).
To define a set using set builder definition, either form “The set of all \(x\) from the universe \(U\) such that \(x\) is ..." by writing \[\{x \in U \mid ...x... \}\] or form “the collection of all outputs of some operation when the input ranges over the universe \(U\)" by writing \[\{ ...x... \mid x\in U \}\]
We use the symbol \(\in\) as “is an
element of” to indicate membership in a set.
Example sets: For each of the following, identify whether it’s defined using the roster method or set builder notation and give an example element.
Can we infer the data type of the example element from the notation?
\(\{ -1, 1\}\)
\(\{0, 0 \}\)
\(\{-1, 0, 1 \}\)
\(\{(x,x,x) \mid x \in \{-1,0,1\} \}\)
\(\{ \}\)
\(\{ x \in \mathbb{Z} \mid x \geq 0 \}\)
\(\{ x \in \mathbb{Z} \mid x > 0 \}\)
\(\{ \smile, \sun \}\)
\(\{\texttt{A},\texttt{C},\texttt{U},\texttt{G}\}\)
\(\{\texttt{A}\texttt{U}\texttt{G}, \texttt{U}\texttt{A}\texttt{G}, \texttt{U}\texttt{G}\texttt{A}, \texttt{U}\texttt{A}\texttt{A}\}\)
RNA is made up of strands of four different bases that encode genomic
information in specific ways.
The bases are elements of the set \(B =
\{\texttt{A}, \texttt{C}, \texttt{U}, \texttt{G}\}\). Strands are
ordered nonempty finite sequences of bases.
Formally, to define the set of all RNA strands, we need more than roster method or set builder descriptions.
Definition The set of nonnegative integers \(\mathbb{N}\) is defined (recursively) by: \[\begin{array}{ll} \textrm{Basis Step: } & \phantom{0 \in \mathbb{N}} \\ \textrm{Recursive Step: } & \phantom{\textrm{If } n \in \mathbb{N} \textrm{, then } n+1 \in \mathbb{N}} \end{array}\]
Examples:
Definition The set of all integers \(\mathbb{Z}\) is defined (recursively) by: \[\begin{array}{ll} \textrm{Basis Step: } & \phantom{0 \in \mathbb{Z}} \\ \textrm{Recursive Step: } & \phantom{\textrm{If } x \in \mathbb{Z} \textrm{, then } x+1 \in \mathbb{Z} \textrm{ and } x-1 \in \mathbb{Z}} \end{array}\]
Examples:
Definition The set of RNA strands \(S\) is defined (recursively) by: \[\begin{array}{ll} \textrm{Basis Step: } & \texttt{A}\in S, \texttt{C}\in S, \texttt{U}\in S, \texttt{G}\in S \\ \textrm{Recursive Step: } & \textrm{If } s \in S\textrm{ and }b \in B \textrm{, then }sb \in S \end{array}\] where \(sb\) is string concatenation.
Examples:
Definition The set of bitstrings (strings of 0s and 1s) is defined (recursively) by: \[\begin{array}{ll} \textrm{Basis Step: } & \phantom{\lambda \in X} \\ \textrm{Recursive Step: } & \phantom{\textrm{If } s \in X \textrm{, then } s0 \in X \text{ and } s1 \in X} \end{array}\]
Notation: We call the set of bitstrings \(\{0,1\}^*\) and we say this is the set of all strings over \(\{0,1\}\).
Examples: