Solving Set Equality Proof Homework

  • Thread starter Thread starter Haydo
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Proof Set Sets
Haydo
Messages
20
Reaction score
0

Homework Statement



Let ##A, B, C## be sets with ##A \subseteq B##. Show ##(A-B)\cup C=(A\cup C)-(B\cup C)##

Homework Equations



None.

The Attempt at a Solution



So, generally, one shows two sets to be equal by showing that each is a proper subset of the other. I started with the LHS. Thus, if x is in (A-B)UC, x is in (A-B) or x is in C. But if x is in C, then x is not in RHS. So it seems that the expression does not hold. Am I thinking of this wrong, or did the assignment writer make an error?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Physics news on Phys.org
If x is in C, then x can still be in the right hand side. It might help to draw a Venn diagram.
 
I should say, consider the case where x is in C and x is not in (A-B). Then x cannot be in (AUC)-(BUC), right?
 
You know what, I think you're right! If x is in C, then for x to be in the RHS it could not be in ## B \cup C ##. But then it cannot be in ## C ##. Also, my first Venn diagram had a mistake in it.
 
Hm. That's what I thought. I'll email the professor then. Maybe he was just trying to see if we were paying attention, but the problem definitely said to prove the equality, not to prove it or show it is false.
 
There are two things I don't understand about this problem. First, when finding the nth root of a number, there should in theory be n solutions. However, the formula produces n+1 roots. Here is how. The first root is simply ##\left(r\right)^{\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)}##. Then you multiply this first root by n additional expressions given by the formula, as you go through k=0,1,...n-1. So you end up with n+1 roots, which cannot be correct. Let me illustrate what I mean. For this...
Back
Top