UNIT 2: BACKGROUND NOTES: Part 1

This is a unit covering background material required for our course in Comptuer Assisted
Regional Analysis. The material relates to (1) mathematics; (2) descriptive statistics and use of
SAS; (3) database management and an introduction to dBASE; (4) basic concepts in mapping such
as scale; (5) elements of GIS. If you have an understanding in these materials you can count your-
self as well prepared for what we wish do in the middle and last third of the course.

1. MATHEMATICS

Topics to be covered: theory of sets; the Cartesian product; Cartesian coordinates in the XY
plane; variables and functions.

1. The Theory of sets

Definition of a set: A set is a well defined collection of objects such as people, places, numbers,
polygons, and points. The individual objects are called the elements of the set. For example,

Set A = {John, Jane, Sue}

Set B = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}
Set C = {Boston, New York, San Francisco, Philadelphia}
Set D = {Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda}

Sets may be of any size. Set A shown above is a small finite set of three people. The particles of
sand on a beach is also a set--a very large and finite set. The set of all letters in the English alpha-
bet is a finite set of 26 elements. The set of all numbers in the
number line is an infinite set.
A set with no elements is called an empty set or a null set; it is
denoted by the symbol Ø. The set containing all elements rele- 2 B
vant to a particular discourse is called the universal set; it is de- ~B
1 3 5
noted by the symbol U. 4

Complement: The complement of a set B or not-B, denoted by ~B,

is the set of all elements in the universal set U that is not in B
(Fig. 1). Example:
Figure 1: complement

If U = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5} and B = {1, 3, 5}, then ~B = {2, 4}

Equality: Two sets A and B are said to be equal if their
5
elements are identical, regardless of their order of ap-
pearance.
7
1 2 3
If A = {John, Jane, Sue} and B = {Jane, John,
4 6
Sue}, then A = B.
9
Subset: A set is said to be contained in the other if 8
elements of one are also in the other. When one set is
contained in the other, the contained set is called a
subset (Fig. 2). Figure 2: subset

If A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9} and B = {2, 3, 4, 6}, then B is a subset of A;

it is denoted Β⊂Α.

Intersection: The intersection of two sets A and B is a new set consisting of elements common to
both sets (Fig. 3) ; it is denoted (A ∩ B).

A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5} and B = {4, 5, 6, 7, 8}

1 6
then (A ∩ B) = {4, 5}
2
A 4 B 7
Mutually exclusive sets: Two sets A and B are said to be
5
mutually exclusive if their intersection (A ∩ B) is empty (Fig. 3 8
4).

Union: The union of two sets A and B, denoted (A ∪ B), Figure 3: intersection
is a new set containing all the elements in either A or B or both (Fig. 5).

A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5} and B = {4, 5, 6, 7,}

then (A ∪ B) = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7}
1 6
2 7
Note: the two common elements in (A ∩ B) = A 5 B
{4, 5} are not repeated. 4
3 8

Figure 4: mutually exclusive intersection

Counting the number of elements in a set: The number
of elements in a set A is designated by n(A). If A and B
1 6
are sets then the number of elements in (A ∪ B) is 2
A 4 B 7
given by the formula:
5
3 8
n(A ∪ B) = n(A) + n(B) - n(A ∩ B) (1.1)

Since (A ∩ B) occurs in both A and B when n(A) is

added to n(B) the number of elements in (A ∩ B) is counted Figure 5: union
twice; so it should be subtracted once. In the special case
where A and B are mutually exclusive, n(A ∩ B) = 0 and n(A ∪ B) = n(A) + n(B).
Consider the following example with three intersecting sets where a group of ten students are en-
rolled in three courses (C: Computers; G: Geography; S: Statistics) with the following distribution:

C G S
1 1 - -
2 - - 1
3 1 1 -
4 1 1 1
5 - 1 -
6 - 1 1 C G
7 - 1 -
8 - - -
9 1 1 -
10 1 1 1
S
A Venn diagram representing the same data is
shown in Fig. 6. If we denote the number of peo-
ple in set A by n(A), then the following expres-
sions describe the intersecting sets and the num-
ber of elements in each. Let C = Computers; G =
Geography; S = Statistics.

n(C) = 5; n(G) = 7; n(S) = 4 Figure 6: Venn Diagram

n(C ∩ G) = 2
n(C ∩ S) = 0
n(G ∩ S) = 1
n(C ∩ G ∩ S) = 2
n~(C ∩ G ∩ S) = 1
2. Cartesian Cross Product:

The Cartesian cross product is obtained by crossing each element of a set with all elements of another set.

The possible outcomes on a rolled die can be represented as a set A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6} where each element
is the value on a single face of the die. If a coin is tossed
H (1, H)
the outcomes can be represented as a set B = {H, T} ; 1
the outcome is a head or a tail. If we roll the die first and T (1, T)
toss the coin second, the outcomes can be represented H (2, H)
2
in a compound set denoted by A X B, where
T (2, T)
H (3, H)
A X B = {(1, H), (2, H), (3, H), (4, H), (5, H), (6, H), (1, T), 3
T (3, T)
(2, T), (3, T), (4, T), (5, T), (6, T)}
H (4, H)
4
Each element of the compound set is an ordered pair (or T (4, T)
a 2-tuple) where the value on the face of the die is writ- H (5, H)
5
ten first, and the outcome of the coin toss is written sec-
T (5, T)
ond. In set theory the set A X B is called Cartesian prod-
uct of A and B (Fig. 7). H (6, H)
6
T (6, T)
When two polygon maps are overlaid the maximum pos-
sible number of new polygon types is the number of elements Figure 7: Cartesian Product

in the Cartesian cross product. Consider a soil map with three

classes--sand, silt and clay, and a slope map with two classes--
steep and gentle (Figure 8). Let
the three soil types be de-
noted by S = {A, B, C} Soil Map Slope Map
and the
A
two slope types be de- a
B
noted by R = {a, b}. Then
the map overlay will yield
C Map Overlay b
a Cartesian product of six
land classes as follows: Aa
Ab Ba

a b
Bb
A Aa Ab Cb
B Ba Bb
C Ca Cb Figure 8: map overlay
Note that the particular map in (Fig. 8) contains only five of the classes from the Cartesian prod-
uct. In general when two polygon maps A and B are overlaid the total number of new intersecting
polygons is given by the product of the number of polygon types in each:

n(A) * n (B)

where n(A) and n(B) are the distinct types of polygon in each map. The total number of polygons
(not distinct types) in the map overlay is not an a priori determinate number; it may be less or
more than the number of elements in the Cartesian product The total number of resultant poly-
gons in the new map is a function of the specific spatial
Y
distributions in maps A and B.

3. Cartesian Coordinates in the XY Plane II I

(-,+) (+,+)

Geometric figures are described in analytical geometry in a

system of rectangular coordinates called the Cartesian sys- X
tem, named after the founder of the subject, Rene Des-
cartes (1596-1650). The axes of the system are formed by
III IV
two perpendicular straight lines intersecting at a point O
(-,+) (-,+)
called the origin. The horizontal line XX' is called the X-
axis; the vertical line YY' is called the Y-axis. Values of X
and Y are also called by the names, abscissas and ordi-
Figure 9
nates, respectively. Distance along the X-axis is positive
when measured to the right of the Y-axis, and negative
when measured to the left of it. Likewise, distance along
the Y-axis is positive when measured above the X-axis,
Y
and negative when measured below the X -axis (Fig. 9)
P3 (-3, 7) P2 (3, 7)
The two axes divide the XY plane determined by them,
into four quadrants denoted by I, II, III, IV-- the first, sec-
P1 (7, 3)
ond, third, and fourth quadrants, respectively. When a
pair of numbers is used to designate a point in a plane
X
these numbers are called the coordinates of the point. By
convention, the first value is X and the second value is Y;
thus the point P1=(7,3) is not the same as the point P2= P4 (-7, -3)
(3,7) (see Fig. 10).

Figure 10
It was Descartes' discovery that any point on the XY-plane can
be uniquely represented by a single ordered pair of numbers.
This relationship between points on the plane and ordered
pairs of numbers is of fundamental importance. By means of
this device it became possible to solve problems in geometry
by using algebraic expressions--the logic of analytical geome-
try; this also forms an important basis of both cartography
and GIS. Maps show where places are located in absolute
terms, such as longitude and latitude; values of X in a rectan-
gular coordinate system correspond to longitude and values
of Y correspond to latitude. Analytical geometry also forms
the basis of GIS; points, lines and areas (an area is a closed
polygon) are represented as sequences of ordered pairs of
numbers (Fig. 11 from Dangermond). Map topology, drawing
of boundaries, and polygon intersections are done algebrai-
cally using the basic premise of analytical geometry that there
Figure 11
is a one-to-one correspondence between points on the plane and ordered pairs of
numbers.

Distance between two points: Y

If P1=(x1,y1) and P2=(x2,y2) are two points on the plane
then the distance between them is

d = √ (x2-x1)2 + (y2-y1)2 y2 P2 (x2, y2)

This formula comes from our knowledge of the

theorem of Pythagoras: the square on the hypote- P1 (x1, y1)
nuse of a right-angled triangle is equal to the sum of y1 P3 (x2, y1)
the squares on the two sides. Points P1 and P2 form
the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle formed by
the points P1, P2, P3 where point P3 has the coordi-
X
nates (x2,y1) (Figure 12). Besides its use for comput-
ing distances on a map, the concept of the distance
between two points is also used as an index of similarity to group observations in a Figure 12
data table where
each observation is treated as a point on a graph.

4. Variables and Functions

A variable is a symbol, such as X or Y, that can assume a prescribed set of values. If it attains
only one value then it is a constant. A variable can be continuous where it can take any value be-
tween two given values or the variable may be discrete. The number of individuals in a room is an
example of a discrete variable, whereas the height and weight of these individuals are continuous
variables.
A function is a relation we define from one variable to another where to each value of variable X
we associate another value in variable Y. We say that Y is a function of X which is denoted by the
expression Y = f(X). X is called the independent vari-
Y
able and Y is called the dependent variable. A linear
function L is the graph of the equation given by:

y = ax + b

A plot of selected values of X and corresponding val-

X
ues of Y will yield a straight line with a slope equal
to the value of a and intercepting the Y-axis at the
value of a (Fig 13).

Figure 13
The graph of the function y = 3X + 2
x -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
y -7 -4 -1 2 5 8 11