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Applied Discrete Structures

Chapter 1 Set Theory

empty set

Betty’s math teacher said, in a sweat:
"I will teach you some set theory yet!"
But his best efforts failed,
And at Betty he railed:
"Your insights? A true empty set!"
SheilaB, The Omnificent English Dictionary In Limerick Form
We begin this chapter with a brief description of discrete mathematics. We then cover some of the basic set language and notation that will be used throughout the text. Venn diagrams will be introduced in order to give the reader a clear picture of set operations. In addition, we will describe the binary representation of positive integers and introduce summation notation and its generalizations.