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Inclusion–exclusion principle

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In combinatorics , the inclusion–exclusion principle is a counting technique which generalizes the familiar method of obtaining the number of elements in the union of two finite sets ; symbolically expressed as

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73-398: Where A and B are two finite sets and | S | indicates the cardinality of a set S (which may be considered as the number of elements of the set, if the set is finite ). The formula expresses the fact that the sum of the sizes of the two sets may be too large since some elements may be counted twice. The double-counted elements are those in the intersection of the two sets and the count

146-660: A k = p k {\displaystyle a_{k}=p^{k}} , in which case the expression above simplifies to (This result can also be derived more simply by considering the intersection of the complements of the events A i {\displaystyle A_{i}} .) An analogous simplification is possible in the case of a general measure space ( S , Σ , μ ) {\displaystyle (S,\Sigma ,\mu )} and measurable subsets A 1 , … , A n {\displaystyle A_{1},\dots ,A_{n}} of finite measure. There

219-458: A function from ⁠ A {\displaystyle A} ⁠ to ⁠ B {\displaystyle B} ⁠ that is both injective and surjective . Such sets are said to be equipotent , equipollent , or equinumerous . For example, the set E = { 0 , 2 , 4 , 6 , ... } {\displaystyle E=\{0,2,4,6,{\text{...}}\}} of non-negative even numbers has

292-424: A probability space ( Ω , F , P ) {\displaystyle (\Omega ,{\mathcal {F}},\mathbb {P} )} , the inclusion–exclusion principle becomes for n  = 2 for n  = 3 and in general which can be written in closed form as where the last sum runs over all subsets I of the indices 1, ..., n which contain exactly k elements, and denotes

365-468: A cardinality of any proper class P {\displaystyle P} , in particular This definition is natural since it agrees with the axiom of limitation of size which implies bijection between V {\displaystyle V} and any proper class. Universal set In 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

438-414: A certain matrix. This inverse has a special structure, making the principle an extremely valuable technique in combinatorics and related areas of mathematics. As Gian-Carlo Rota put it: "One of the most useful principles of enumeration in discrete probability and combinatorial theory is the celebrated principle of inclusion–exclusion. When skillfully applied, this principle has yielded the solution to many

511-418: A combinatorial problem." In its general formula, the principle of inclusion–exclusion states that for finite sets A 1 , ..., A n , one has the identity This can be compactly written as or In words, to count the number of elements in a finite union of finite sets, first sum the cardinalities of the individual sets, then subtract the number of elements that appear in at least two sets, then add back

584-456: A derangement is given by a truncation to n  + 1 terms of the Taylor expansion of e . Thus the probability of guessing an order for a shuffled deck of cards and being incorrect about every card is approximately e or 37%. The situation that appears in the derangement example above occurs often enough to merit special attention. Namely, when the size of the intersection sets appearing in

657-425: A list of properties that elements of a set S may or may not have, then the principle of inclusion–exclusion provides a way to calculate the number of elements of S that have none of the properties. Just let A i be the subset of elements of S which have the property P i and use the principle in its complementary form. This variant is due to J. J. Sylvester . Notice that if you take into account only

730-501: A manner consistent with Quine's, but this is not possible for Oberschelp's, since in it the singleton function is provably a set, which leads immediately to paradox in New Foundations. Another example is positive set theory , where the axiom of comprehension is restricted to hold only for the positive formulas (formulas that do not contain negations). Such set theories are motivated by notions of closure in topology. The idea of

803-402: A member of itself, by its definition, contradicting the fact that it cannot contain itself. In this way, it is possible to construct a witness to the non-universality of A {\displaystyle A} , even in versions of set theory that allow sets to contain themselves. This indeed holds even with predicative comprehension and over intuitionistic logic . Another difficulty with

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876-401: A one-to-one correspondence between the elements of two sets based on a unique relationship. In 1891, with the publication of Cantor's diagonal argument , he demonstrated that there are sets of numbers that cannot be placed in one-to-one correspondence with the set of natural numbers, i.e. uncountable sets that contain more elements than there are in the infinite set of natural numbers. While

949-541: A one-to-one correspondence with a strict subset (that is, having the same size in Cantor's sense); this notion of infinity is called Dedekind infinite . Cantor introduced the cardinal numbers, and showed—according to his bijection-based definition of size—that some infinite sets are greater than others. The smallest infinite cardinality is that of the natural numbers ( ℵ 0 {\displaystyle \aleph _{0}} ). One of Cantor's most important results

1022-595: A set { x ∈ A ∣ φ ( x ) } {\displaystyle \{x\in A\mid \varphi (x)\}} that contains exactly those elements x {\displaystyle x} of A {\displaystyle A} that satisfy φ {\displaystyle \varphi } . If this axiom could be applied to a universal set A {\displaystyle A} , with φ ( x ) {\displaystyle \varphi (x)} defined as

1095-426: A set could exist, it could neither contain itself (because its members all do not contain themselves) nor avoid containing itself (because if it did, it should be included as one of its members). This paradox prevents the existence of a universal set in set theories that include either Zermelo 's axiom of restricted comprehension , or the axiom of regularity and axiom of pairing . In Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory ,

1168-417: A set may also be called its size , when no confusion with other notions of size is possible. When two sets, ⁠ A {\displaystyle A} ⁠ and ⁠ B {\displaystyle B} ⁠ , have the same cardinality, it is usually written as | A | = | B | {\displaystyle |A|=|B|} ; however, if referring to

1241-434: A set": Assuming the axiom of choice , the cardinalities of the infinite sets are denoted For each ordinal α {\displaystyle \alpha } , ℵ α + 1 {\displaystyle \aleph _{\alpha +1}} is the least cardinal number greater than ℵ α {\displaystyle \aleph _{\alpha }} . The cardinality of

1314-437: A similar argument, ⁠ N {\displaystyle \mathbb {N} } ⁠ has cardinality strictly less than the cardinality of the set ⁠ R {\displaystyle \mathbb {R} } ⁠ of all real numbers . For proofs, see Cantor's diagonal argument or Cantor's first uncountability proof . In the above section, "cardinality" of a set was defined functionally. In other words, it

1387-403: A universal set S , the principle of inclusion–exclusion calculates the number of elements of S in none of these subsets. A generalization of this concept would calculate the number of elements of S which appear in exactly some fixed m of these sets. Let N = [ n ] = {1,2,..., n }. If we define A ∅ = S {\displaystyle A_{\emptyset }=S} , then

1460-442: A universal set can be avoided either by using a variant of set theory in which the axiom of comprehension is restricted in some way, or by using a universal object that is not considered to be a set. There are set theories known to be consistent (if the usual set theory is consistent) in which the universal set V does exist (and V ∈ V {\displaystyle V\in V}

1533-425: 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. Russell's paradox concerns the impossibility of a set of sets, whose members are all sets that do not contain themselves. If such

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1606-516: A universal set seems intuitively desirable in the Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory , particularly because most versions of this theory do allow the use of quantifiers over all sets (see universal quantifier ). One way of allowing an object that behaves similarly to a universal set, without creating paradoxes, is to describe V and similar large collections as proper classes rather than as sets. Russell's paradox does not apply in these theories because

1679-501: Is a bijection. This is no longer true for infinite ⁠ A {\displaystyle A} ⁠ and ⁠ B {\displaystyle B} ⁠ . For example, the function ⁠ g {\displaystyle g} ⁠ from ⁠ N {\displaystyle \mathbb {N} } ⁠ to ⁠ E {\displaystyle E} ⁠ , defined by g ( n ) = 4 n {\displaystyle g(n)=4n}

1752-499: Is an injective function from ⁠ N {\displaystyle \mathbb {N} } ⁠ to ⁠ P ( N ) {\displaystyle {\mathcal {P}}(\mathbb {N} )} ⁠ , and it can be shown that no function from ⁠ N {\displaystyle \mathbb {N} } ⁠ to ⁠ P ( N ) {\displaystyle {\mathcal {P}}(\mathbb {N} )} ⁠ can be bijective (see picture). By

1825-1840: Is another formula used in point processes . Let S {\displaystyle S} be a finite set and P {\displaystyle P} be a random subset of S {\displaystyle S} . Let A {\displaystyle A} be any subset of S {\displaystyle S} , then P ( P = A ) = P ( P ⊃ A ) − ∑ j 1 ∈ S ∖ A P ( P ⊃ A ∪ j 1 ) + ∑ j 1 , j 2 ∈ S ∖ A   j 1 ≠ j 2 P ( P ⊃ A ∪ j 1 , j 2 ) + … + ( − 1 ) | S | − | A | P ( P ⊃ S ) = ∑ A ⊂ J ⊂ S ( − 1 ) | J | − | A | P ( P ⊃ J ) . {\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}\mathbb {P} (P=A)&=\mathbb {P} (P\supset A)-\sum _{j_{1}\in S\setminus A}\mathbb {P} (P\supset A\cup {j_{1}})\\&+\sum _{j_{1},j_{2}\in S\setminus A\ j_{1}\neq j_{2}}\mathbb {P} (P\supset A\cup {j_{1},j_{2}})+\dots \\&+(-1)^{|S|-|A|}\mathbb {P} (P\supset S)\\&=\sum _{A\subset J\subset S}(-1)^{|J|-|A|}\mathbb {P} (P\supset J).\end{aligned}}} The principle

1898-464: Is apparent by considering, for instance, the tangent function , which provides a one-to-one correspondence between the interval (−½π, ½π) and R (see also Hilbert's paradox of the Grand Hotel ). The second result was first demonstrated by Cantor in 1878, but it became more apparent in 1890, when Giuseppe Peano introduced the space-filling curves , curved lines that twist and turn enough to fill

1971-480: Is attributed to Abraham de Moivre (1718), although it first appears in a paper of Daniel da Silva (1854) and later in a paper by J. J. Sylvester (1883). Sometimes the principle is referred to as the formula of Da Silva or Sylvester, due to these publications. The principle can be viewed as an example of the sieve method extensively used in number theory and is sometimes referred to as the sieve formula . As finite probabilities are computed as counts relative to

2044-404: Is common to see the principle expressed in its complementary form. That is, letting S be a finite universal set containing all of the A i and letting A i ¯ {\displaystyle {\bar {A_{i}}}} denote the complement of A i in S , by De Morgan's laws we have As another variant of the statement, let P 1 , ..., P n be

2117-467: Is corrected by subtracting the size of the intersection. The inclusion-exclusion principle, being a generalization of the two-set case, is perhaps more clearly seen in the case of three sets, which for the sets A , B and C is given by This formula can be verified by counting how many times each region in the Venn diagram figure is included in the right-hand side of the formula. In this case, when removing

2190-429: Is equal to the number of points on a plane and, indeed, in any finite-dimensional space. These results are highly counterintuitive, because they imply that there exist proper subsets and proper supersets of an infinite set S that have the same size as S , although S contains elements that do not belong to its subsets, and the supersets of S contain elements that are not included in it. The first of these results

2263-499: Is equivalent to the statement that | A | ≤ | B | {\displaystyle |A|\leq |B|} or | B | ≤ | A | {\displaystyle |B|\leq |A|} for every ⁠ A {\displaystyle A} ⁠ and ⁠ B {\displaystyle B} ⁠ . ⁠ A {\displaystyle A} ⁠ has cardinality strictly less than

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2336-475: Is injective, but not surjective since 2, for instance, is not mapped to, and ⁠ h {\displaystyle h} ⁠ from ⁠ N {\displaystyle \mathbb {N} } ⁠ to ⁠ E {\displaystyle E} ⁠ , defined by h ( n ) = n − ( n  mod  2 ) {\displaystyle h(n)=n-(n{\text{ mod }}2)} (see: modulo operation )

2409-434: Is no cardinal number between the cardinality of the reals and the cardinality of the natural numbers, that is, However, this hypothesis can neither be proved nor disproved within the widely accepted ZFC axiomatic set theory , if ZFC is consistent. Cardinal arithmetic can be used to show not only that the number of points in a real number line is equal to the number of points in any segment of that line, but that this

2482-407: Is no set whose cardinality is strictly between that of the integers and that of the real numbers. The continuum hypothesis is independent of ZFC , a standard axiomatization of set theory; that is, it is impossible to prove the continuum hypothesis or its negation from ZFC—provided that ZFC is consistent. For more detail, see § Cardinality of the continuum below. If the axiom of choice holds,

2555-411: Is sometimes stated in the form that says that if then Cardinality In mathematics , cardinality describes a relationship between sets which compares their relative size. For example, the sets A = { 1 , 2 , 3 } {\displaystyle A=\{1,2,3\}} and B = { 2 , 4 , 6 } {\displaystyle B=\{2,4,6\}} are

2628-546: Is surjective, but not injective, since 0 and 1 for instance both map to 0. Neither ⁠ g {\displaystyle g} ⁠ nor ⁠ h {\displaystyle h} ⁠ can challenge | E | = | N | {\displaystyle |E|=|\mathbb {N} |} , which was established by the existence of ⁠ f {\displaystyle f} ⁠ . ⁠ A {\displaystyle A} ⁠ has cardinality less than or equal to

2701-401: Is the number of orderings having p elements in the correct position, which is equal to the number of ways of ordering the remaining n  −  p elements, or ( n  −  p )!. Thus we finally get: A permutation where no card is in the correct position is called a derangement . Taking n ! to be the total number of permutations, the probability Q that a random shuffle produces

2774-508: Is true). In these theories, Zermelo's axiom of comprehension does not hold in general, and the axiom of comprehension of naive set theory is restricted in a different way. A set theory containing a universal set is necessarily a non-well-founded set theory . The most widely studied set theory with a universal set is Willard Van Orman Quine 's New Foundations . Alonzo Church and Arnold Oberschelp also published work on such set theories. Church speculated that his theory might be extended in

2847-451: The axiom of regularity and axiom of pairing prevent any set from containing itself. For any set A {\displaystyle A} , the set { A } {\displaystyle \{A\}} (constructed using pairing) necessarily contains an element disjoint from { A } {\displaystyle \{A\}} , by regularity. Because its only element is A {\displaystyle A} , it must be

2920-816: The cardinal number of an individual set A {\displaystyle A} , it is simply denoted | A | {\displaystyle |A|} , with a vertical bar on each side; this is the same notation as absolute value , and the meaning depends on context. The cardinal number of a set A {\displaystyle A} may alternatively be denoted by n ( A ) {\displaystyle n(A)} , A {\displaystyle A} , card ⁡ ( A ) {\displaystyle \operatorname {card} (A)} , or # A {\displaystyle \#A} . A crude sense of cardinality, an awareness that groups of things or events compare with other groups by containing more, fewer, or

2993-474: The law of trichotomy holds for cardinality. Thus we can make the following definitions: Our intuition gained from finite sets breaks down when dealing with infinite sets . In the late 19th century Georg Cantor , Gottlob Frege , Richard Dedekind and others rejected the view that the whole cannot be the same size as the part. One example of this is Hilbert's paradox of the Grand Hotel . Indeed, Dedekind defined an infinite set as one that can be placed into

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3066-683: The natural numbers is denoted aleph-null ( ℵ 0 {\displaystyle \aleph _{0}} ), while the cardinality of the real numbers is denoted by " c {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {c}}} " (a lowercase fraktur script "c"), and is also referred to as the cardinality of the continuum . Cantor showed, using the diagonal argument , that c > ℵ 0 {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {c}}>\aleph _{0}} . We can show that c = 2 ℵ 0 {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {c}}=2^{\aleph _{0}}} , this also being

3139-455: The 2nd, 5th, and 13th cards in the correct positions. It only matters that of the n cards, 3 were chosen to be in the correct position. Thus there are ( n p ) {\textstyle {n \choose p}} equal terms in the p summation (see combination ). | A 1 ∩ ⋯ ∩ A p | {\displaystyle |A_{1}\cap \cdots \cap A_{p}|}

3212-497: The axiom of restricted comprehension is applied to an arbitrary set A {\displaystyle A} , with the predicate φ ( x ) ≡ x ∉ x {\displaystyle \varphi (x)\equiv x\notin x} , it produces the subset of elements of A {\displaystyle A} that do not contain themselves. It cannot be a member of A {\displaystyle A} , because if it were it would be included as

3285-770: The cardinalities of unions and intersections are related by the following equation: Here V {\displaystyle V} denote a class of all sets, and Ord {\displaystyle {\mbox{Ord}}} denotes the class of all ordinal numbers. We use the intersection of a class which is defined by ( x ∈ ⋂ Q ) ⟺ ( ∀ q ∈ Q : x ∈ q ) {\displaystyle (x\in \bigcap Q)\iff (\forall q\in Q:x\in q)} , therefore ⋂ ∅ = V {\displaystyle \bigcap \emptyset =V} . In this case This definition allows also obtain

3358-656: The cardinality of ⁠ B {\displaystyle B} ⁠ , if there exists an injective function from ⁠ A {\displaystyle A} ⁠ into ⁠ B {\displaystyle B} ⁠ . If | A | ≤ | B | {\displaystyle |A|\leq |B|} and | B | ≤ | A | {\displaystyle |B|\leq |A|} , then | A | = | B | {\displaystyle |A|=|B|} (a fact known as Schröder–Bernstein theorem ). The axiom of choice

3431-659: The cardinality of ⁠ B {\displaystyle B} ⁠ , if there is an injective function, but no bijective function, from ⁠ A {\displaystyle A} ⁠ to ⁠ B {\displaystyle B} ⁠ . For example, the set ⁠ N {\displaystyle \mathbb {N} } ⁠ of all natural numbers has cardinality strictly less than its power set ⁠ P ( N ) {\displaystyle {\mathcal {P}}(\mathbb {N} )} ⁠ , because g ( n ) = { n } {\displaystyle g(n)=\{n\}}

3504-474: The cardinality of a finite set is simply comparable to its number of elements, extending the notion to infinite sets usually starts with defining the notion of comparison of arbitrary sets (some of which are possibly infinite). Two sets have the same cardinality if there exists a bijection (a.k.a., one-to-one correspondence) from ⁠ A {\displaystyle A} ⁠ to ⁠ B {\displaystyle B} ⁠ , that is,

3577-409: The cardinality of the probability space , the formulas for the principle of inclusion–exclusion remain valid when the cardinalities of the sets are replaced by finite probabilities. More generally, both versions of the principle can be put under the common umbrella of measure theory . In a very abstract setting, the principle of inclusion–exclusion can be expressed as the calculation of the inverse of

3650-474: The cardinality of the set of all subsets of the natural numbers. The continuum hypothesis says that ℵ 1 = 2 ℵ 0 {\displaystyle \aleph _{1}=2^{\aleph _{0}}} , i.e. 2 ℵ 0 {\displaystyle 2^{\aleph _{0}}} is the smallest cardinal number bigger than ℵ 0 {\displaystyle \aleph _{0}} , i.e. there

3723-653: The case that A {\displaystyle A} is disjoint from { A } {\displaystyle \{A\}} , and therefore that A {\displaystyle A} does not contain itself. Because a universal set would necessarily contain itself, it cannot exist under these axioms. Russell's paradox prevents the existence of a universal set in set theories that include Zermelo 's axiom of restricted comprehension . This axiom states that, for any formula φ ( x ) {\displaystyle \varphi (x)} and any set A {\displaystyle A} , there exists

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3796-430: The combinatorial interpretation of the binomial coefficient ( n k ) {\textstyle {\binom {n}{k}}} . For example, if the events A i {\displaystyle A_{i}} are independent and identically distributed , then P ( A i ) = p {\displaystyle \mathbb {P} (A_{i})=p} for all i , and we have

3869-473: The contributions of over-counted elements, the number of elements in the mutual intersection of the three sets has been subtracted too often, so must be added back in to get the correct total. Generalizing the results of these examples gives the principle of inclusion–exclusion. To find the cardinality of the union of n sets: The name comes from the idea that the principle is based on over-generous inclusion , followed by compensating exclusion . This concept

3942-466: The correct position? Begin by defining set A m , which is all of the orderings of cards with the m card correct. Then the number of orders, W , with at least one card being in the correct position, m , is Apply the principle of inclusion–exclusion, Each value A m 1 ∩ ⋯ ∩ A m p {\displaystyle A_{m_{1}}\cap \cdots \cap A_{m_{p}}} represents

4015-407: The division of things into parts repeated without limit. In Euclid's Elements , commensurability was described as the ability to compare the length of two line segments, a and b , as a ratio, as long as there were a third segment, no matter how small, that could be laid end-to-end a whole number of times into both a and b . But with the discovery of irrational numbers , it was seen that even

4088-450: The first m<n sums on the right (in the general form of the principle), then you will get an overestimate if m is odd and an underestimate if m is even. A more complex example is the following. Suppose there is a deck of n cards numbered from 1 to  n . Suppose a card numbered m is in the correct position if it is the m card in the deck. How many ways, W , can the cards be shuffled with at least 1 card being in

4161-466: The formulas for the principle of inclusion–exclusion depend only on the number of sets in the intersections and not on which sets appear. More formally, if the intersection has the same cardinality, say α k = | A J |, for every k -element subset J of {1, ...,  n }, then Or, in the complementary form, where the universal set S has cardinality α 0 , Given a family (repeats allowed) of subsets A 1 , A 2 , ..., A n of

4234-400: The idea of a universal set concerns the power set of the set of all sets. Because this power set is a set of sets, it would necessarily be a subset of the set of all sets, provided that both exist. However, this conflicts with Cantor's theorem that the power set of any set (whether infinite or not) always has strictly higher cardinality than the set itself. The difficulties associated with

4307-402: The infinite set of all rational numbers was not enough to describe the length of every possible line segment. Still, there was no concept of infinite sets as something that had cardinality. To better understand infinite sets, a notion of cardinality was formulated c.  1880 by Georg Cantor , the originator of set theory . He examined the process of equating two sets with bijection ,

4380-523: The intersection of all those A i with index in I . According to the Bonferroni inequalities , the sum of the first terms in the formula is alternately an upper bound and a lower bound for the LHS . This can be used in cases where the full formula is too cumbersome. For a general measure space ( S ,Σ, μ ) and measurable subsets A 1 , ..., A n of finite measure, the above identities also hold when

4453-447: The manipulation of numbers without reference to a specific group of things or events. From the 6th century BCE, the writings of Greek philosophers show hints of the cardinality of infinite sets. While they considered the notion of infinity as an endless series of actions, such as adding 1 to a number repeatedly, they did not consider the size of an infinite set of numbers to be a thing. The ancient Greek notion of infinity also considered

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4526-575: The number of elements that appear in at least three sets, then subtract the number of elements that appear in at least four sets, and so on. This process always ends since there can be no elements that appear in more than the number of sets in the union. (For example, if n = 4 , {\displaystyle n=4,} there can be no elements that appear in more than 4 {\displaystyle 4} sets; equivalently, there can be no elements that appear in at least 5 {\displaystyle 5} sets.) In applications it

4599-411: The predicate x ∉ x {\displaystyle x\notin x} , it would state the existence of Russell's paradoxical set, giving a contradiction. It was this contradiction that led the axiom of comprehension to be stated in its restricted form, where it asserts the existence of a subset of a given set rather than the existence of a set of all sets that satisfy a given formula. When

4672-452: The principle of inclusion–exclusion (with B ∅ = A I {\displaystyle B_{\emptyset }=A_{I}} ), is The correspondence K ↔ J = I ∪ K between subsets of N  \  I and subsets of N containing I is a bijection and if J and K correspond under this map then B K = A J , showing that the result is valid. In probability , for events A 1 , ..., A n in

4745-401: The principle of inclusion–exclusion can be written as, using the notation of the previous section; the number of elements of S contained in none of the A i is: If I is a fixed subset of the index set N , then the number of elements which belong to A i for all i in I and for no other values is: Define the sets We seek the number of elements in none of the B k which, by

4818-409: The probability measure P {\displaystyle \mathbb {P} } is replaced by the measure μ . If, in the probabilistic version of the inclusion–exclusion principle, the probability of the intersection A I only depends on the cardinality of I , meaning that for every k in {1, ...,  n } there is an a k such that then the above formula simplifies to due to

4891-966: The same cardinality as the set N = { 0 , 1 , 2 , 3 , ... } {\displaystyle \mathbb {N} =\{0,1,2,3,{\text{...}}\}} of natural numbers , since the function f ( n ) = 2 n {\displaystyle f(n)=2n} is a bijection from ⁠ N {\displaystyle \mathbb {N} } ⁠ to ⁠ E {\displaystyle E} ⁠ (see picture). For finite sets ⁠ A {\displaystyle A} ⁠ and ⁠ B {\displaystyle B} ⁠ , if some bijection exists from ⁠ A {\displaystyle A} ⁠ to ⁠ B {\displaystyle B} ⁠ , then each injective or surjective function from ⁠ A {\displaystyle A} ⁠ to ⁠ B {\displaystyle B} ⁠

4964-495: The same number of instances, is observed in a variety of present-day animal species, suggesting an origin millions of years ago. Human expression of cardinality is seen as early as 40 000 years ago, with equating the size of a group with a group of recorded notches, or a representative collection of other things, such as sticks and shells. The abstraction of cardinality as a number is evident by 3000 BCE, in Sumerian mathematics and

5037-436: The same size as they each contain 3 elements . Beginning in the late 19th century, this concept was generalized to infinite sets , which allows one to distinguish between different types of infinity, and to perform arithmetic on them. There are two notions often used when referring to cardinality: one which compares sets directly using bijections and injections , and another which uses cardinal numbers . The cardinality of

5110-414: The set of shuffles having at least p values m 1 , ...,  m p in the correct position. Note that the number of shuffles with at least p values correct only depends on p , not on the particular values of m {\displaystyle m} . For example, the number of shuffles having the 1st, 3rd, and 17th cards in the correct position is the same as the number of shuffles having

5183-1081: The whole of any square, or cube, or hypercube , or finite-dimensional space. These curves are not a direct proof that a line has the same number of points as a finite-dimensional space, but they can be used to obtain such a proof . Cantor also showed that sets with cardinality strictly greater than c {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {c}}} exist (see his generalized diagonal argument and theorem ). They include, for instance: Both have cardinality The cardinal equalities c 2 = c , {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {c}}^{2}={\mathfrak {c}},} c ℵ 0 = c , {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {c}}^{\aleph _{0}}={\mathfrak {c}},} and c c = 2 c {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {c}}^{\mathfrak {c}}=2^{\mathfrak {c}}} can be demonstrated using cardinal arithmetic : If A and B are disjoint sets , then From this, one can show that in general,

5256-415: Was not defined as a specific object itself. However, such an object can be defined as follows. The relation of having the same cardinality is called equinumerosity , and this is an equivalence relation on the class of all sets. The equivalence class of a set A under this relation, then, consists of all those sets which have the same cardinality as A . There are two ways to define the "cardinality of

5329-576: Was that the cardinality of the continuum ( c {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {c}}} ) is greater than that of the natural numbers ( ℵ 0 {\displaystyle \aleph _{0}} ); that is, there are more real numbers R than natural numbers N . Namely, Cantor showed that c = 2 ℵ 0 = ℶ 1 {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {c}}=2^{\aleph _{0}}=\beth _{1}} (see Beth one ) satisfies: The continuum hypothesis states that there

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