Math 2 Reviewer

Recall the Addition Property

If A and B are finite sets such that AB = , then |A B|=|A|
+|B|.
What is |A B|if AB ?
Note that in the counting of |A|and|B|, the elements of A B
are counted twice. Thus we have |A B|=|A|+|B|- | A B |.
Can we generalize this to a finite number of sets?
PIE
In particular, for q = 3, we have

A B C A B C

A B C A B C

A B C A C B C
A B AB C

A C B C A C B C

A B C A B A C B C
A B C
For any q finite sets A1, A2,, Aq, q 2,

A1 A2 ... Aq Ai Ai A j Ai A j Ak
i 1

i j

i j k

... 1 q 1 A1 A2 ... Aq
Example: Let S = {1,2,,500}. Find the number of integers in S
which are divisible by 2, 3 or 5.
Solution
Note first the following observations:
For each n N, the number of integers in S which are
divisible by n is given by 500/n .
For a, b, c N, c is divisible by both a and b iff c is
divisible by the LCM(a,b).

For each k N, let Bk = {x S | x is divisible by k}.

Our goal is to find | B2 B3 B5|.
Simple computations and the PIE show that this is equal to (250 +
166 + 100) - (83 + 50 + 33) + 16 = 366.
More Problems from the Example
How many integers in the set S are divisible by:
a. none of 2, 3, 5?
b. exactly one of 2, 3, 5?
c. exactly two of 2, 3, 5?
d. all of 2, 3, 5?
More Definitions
Let S be a given universal set. Then any subset A of S induces
a property P such that for any x S,
x possesses the property P iff x A.
Let S be an n-element universal set, and let P1, P2,, Pq be q
properties for the elements of S, q 1. For integer m, 0 m
q, Let E(m) denote the number of elements of S that possess
exactly m of the q properties; and for 1 m q, let (Pi1, Pi2,
, Pim ) denote the number of elements of S that possess the
properties Pi1, Pi2,, Pim , and let
(m) = (Pi1, Pi2,, Pim )
where the sum is taken over all m-combination {i1,,im} of
{1,2,,q}. Further define (0) = |S| = n.
Generalized PIE
Theorem: Let S be an n-element set and let {P1, P2,, Pq} be
a set of q properties for elements of S. Then for each m =
0,1,2,,q,

m 1
m 2
m 1
m 2
E m m
m
m
q m

q
q
... 1
m
q
k m k
k
1
m
k m
Example of GPIE

Let S = {1,2,,14}, and let P1, P2, P3, P4 be 4 given properties.

Assume than an element j in S possess the property Pi iff the (i,j)
entry in the table below is indicated by a tick (/). Find E(m) for m =
0,1,2,3,4:

S
P1
P2
P3
P4

1
/
/
/
/

/
/
/

4
/
/

6
/

8
/
/
/
/

9
/

10

11

/
/
/

/
/

12
/

13

14

/
/
/

Solution
Consider property P1. Since there are 5 elements of S that have this
property, then (P1) = 5. There are 4 elements with properties P2
and P3, thus, (P2P3) = 4. Scrutinizing the table, we get the
following:
(P1) = 5
(P1P4) = 2
(P1P3P4) = 2
(P2) = 9
(P2P3) = 4
(P2P3P4) = 4
(P3) = 6
(P2P4) = 5
(P1P2P3P4) = 2
(P4) = 6
(P3P4) = 5
(P1P2) = 3
(P1P2P3) = 2
(P1P3) = 3
(P1P2P4) = 2
Thus by definition,
(0) = |S| = 14
(1) = 5 + 9 + 6 + 6 = 26
(2) = 3 + 3 + 2 + 4 + 5 + 5 = 22
(3) = 2 + 2 + 2 + 4 = 10
(4) = 2.
This gives, by the GPIE:
E(0) = (0) - (1) + (2) - (3) + (4)
= 14 - 26 + 22 - 10 + 2 = 2.
E(1) = 4; E(2) = 4; E(3) = 2 and E(4) = 2.
Proof of the GPIE
we shall show that each x S contributes the same count, either
0 or 1, to each side of the equation of the GPIE.
Let x S be given. Assume that x possesses exactly t properties.
Case 1. t < m. Clearly, x contributes a count of 0 to both sides.
Case 2. t = m. In this case, x is counted once in E(m). On the other
hand, x contributes 1 to (m) but 0 to (r) for r > m. Thus, x
contributes a count of 1 to both sides.

Case 3. t > m. Now, x contributes a count of 0 to E(m). On the other

hand, x is counted C(t,m) times in (m), C(t,m+1) times in (m+1),
,C(t,t) in (t),
but x contributes 0 to (r), r > t.
Thus, the count contributed by x to the RHS is
= C(t,m) - C(m+1,m)C(t,m+1) + C(m+2,m)C(t,m+2)
t-m
+ (-1) C(t,m)C(t,t).
It remains to show that = 0. This can be done by using the
following identities:
C(n,k)C(k,r) = C(n,r)C(n-r,k-r); and,

n
1 0
r
r 0
n

And since x contributes the same value to both sides, the theorem is
proved.