Introduction

Prerequisites
Partially ordered sets and Mathematical Induction

MATH132: Calculus
Week 1
Frank Valckenborgh
Department of Mathematics
Macquarie University

Tuesday 26 February 2013

Thursday 28 February 2013

Frank Valckenborgh

Introduction
Prerequisites
Partially ordered sets and Mathematical Induction

Introduction

INTRODUCTION

Frank Valckenborgh

Introduction
Prerequisites
Partially ordered sets and Mathematical Induction

Introduction
The scientific method

La pense ne doit jamais se soumettre,

ni un dogme,
ni un parti,
ni une passion,
ni un intrt,
ni une ide prconue,
ni quoi que ce soit,
si ce nest aux faits eux-mmes,
parce que, pour elle, se soumettre,
ce serait cesser dtre.
Henri Poincar (18541912)

Frank Valckenborgh

Introduction
Prerequisites
Partially ordered sets and Mathematical Induction

Introduction
The scientific method

Thought may never submit,

Either to a dogma,
Or to a party,
Or to a passion,
Or to a vested interest,
Or to a prejudice,
Or to whatsoever,
But only to the facts,
Because to submit would mean
The end of all thought.
Henri Poincar (18541912)

Frank Valckenborgh

Introduction
Prerequisites
Partially ordered sets and Mathematical Induction

Introduction
Setting the stage

Mathematicians are like Frenchmen: whatever you

say to them, they translate into their own language, and
forthwith it is something entirely different!"
Johann Wolfgang Goethe
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but
not one bit simpler."
Albert Einstein
For every complex problem, there is a solution that is
simple, neat, and wrong."
H. L. Mencken

Frank Valckenborgh

Introduction
Prerequisites
Partially ordered sets and Mathematical Induction

Introduction
Setting the stage

The road to wisdom? Well, its plain

and simple to express:
Err
and err
end err again
but less
and less
and less.
Piet Hein (1905-1996)

Frank Valckenborgh

Introduction
Prerequisites
Partially ordered sets and Mathematical Induction

Introduction
Setting the stage

Problems worthy
of attack
prove their worth
by hitting back.
Piet Hein (1905-1996)
A mathematician is a device for turning coffee into
theorems.
Paul Erdos (Alfred Renyi?)
The beginner should not be discouraged if he finds
that he does not have the prerequisites for reading the
prerequisites.
Paul Halmos
Frank Valckenborgh

Introduction
Prerequisites
Partially ordered sets and Mathematical Induction

Introduction
We will cover topics such as
Real Numbers
Functions
Differentiable functions
Integration
This is (arguably) the advanced course. We will cover these topics
rigorously.
Some of these concepts may be familiar. We will cover them more
rigorously and in more depth.

Frank Valckenborgh

Introduction
Prerequisites
Partially ordered sets and Mathematical Induction

Introduction
Week 1

The real numbers. Mathematical induction.

Week 2
Week 3

Functions

Week 4

Limits and continuity

A1

Differentiation

A2 and T1

Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Mid Semester Break
Week 8

Integration

A3

Week 9
Week 10

A4

Week 11

T2

Week 12

A5

Week 13

Revision

Frank Valckenborgh

Introduction
Prerequisites
Partially ordered sets and Mathematical Induction

Quote of the day

Delians: How can we be rid of the plague?

Delphic Oracle: Construct a cubic altar double the
size of the existing altar.
Banach and Tarski: Can we use the axiom of choice?
Wagon (1985)
The Banach-Tarski paradox

Frank Valckenborgh

Introduction
Prerequisites
Partially ordered sets and Mathematical Induction

Prerequisites

PREREQUISITES

Frank Valckenborgh

Introduction
Prerequisites
Partially ordered sets and Mathematical Induction

Prerequisites
&,

, ,
,

"and"
"or"
"not"
"implies", "if . . . then", "only if"
"if and only if (iff)"
universal quantifier: "for all"
existential quantifier: "there exists . . . such that"

Note: The symbol ! is often used for the statement There exists
a unique . . . .

Frank Valckenborgh

Introduction
Prerequisites
Partially ordered sets and Mathematical Induction

Prerequisites
The order in which the quantifiers appear is very important! In
general,
=
6

Example
Let A, B R, then one defines two related but distinct concepts:
f : A B continuous on A:

x A :  > 0 : > 0 : y A : | x y | < | f (x) f (y ) | < 

f : A B uniformly continuous on A:

 > 0 : > 0 : x A : y A : | x y | < | f (x) f (y ) | < 

Frank Valckenborgh

Introduction
Prerequisites
Partially ordered sets and Mathematical Induction

Prerequisites
To prove a mathematical statement of the form P Q, one can
proceed in three different ways:
1

Direct proof: Assume P and deduce Q.

Contraposition: Assume Q and infer P.

Ex absurdum: Assume P and Q, and derive a contradiction.

This method is considered more dangerous and less elegant
than the previous ones!

Frank Valckenborgh

Introduction
Prerequisites
Partially ordered sets and Mathematical Induction

Prerequisites
Naively speaking, a set is just a collection of objects: x A
means that x is a member of the set A.
Halmos. 1960. Naive Set Theory. Springer.
Mac Lane. 1985. Mathematics: Form and Function. Springer.

The set which has no elements, the so-called empty set, is

conventionally denoted by the symbol .
The standard notation to indicate the members of a set uses
curly brackets: { }, and either
explicit enumeration of the members of the set;
or
an expression that defines its elements relative to a larger
ambient set or universe ; the notation
n

x | P(x)

or

o
x : P(x)

is used to indicate the set of all x that satisfy the

condition P(x) .
Frank Valckenborgh

Introduction
Prerequisites
Partially ordered sets and Mathematical Induction

Prerequisites
Example
The set of all integers between 2 and +2 inclusive can be denoted
by
n
o
2, 1, 0, 1, 2 .

Alternatively, we can also denote it by

n
o
x Z | 2 x 2

or even by
n
o
x Z | x2 < 5

among others.

Frank Valckenborgh

Introduction
Prerequisites
Partially ordered sets and Mathematical Induction

Prerequisites
A word of caution, however!
Russells paradox: The (well-formed)
formula x 6 x quickly leads to a
paradox, if applied without care. If
we attempt to construct the object


R = A is a set | A 6 A

(for instance N 6 N, hence N should

be in R), what is the mathematical
status of the object R itself? If R
would be a set, then
R R R 6 R .

Frank Valckenborgh

Bertrand Russell (1872 1970)

Introduction
Prerequisites
Partially ordered sets and Mathematical Induction

Prerequisites
In axiomatic set theory, one attempts to construct a formal
language in which such paradoxes cannot occur. There exist
several set-theoretic formalisations, the two most important
being due to
(1) Zermelo-Fraenkel;
(2) von Neumann-Gdel-Bernays.

usually augmented with the (in)famous axiom of choice.

Mathematical logic: Computer science = applied
mathematical logic?
Cori & Lascar. 2000. Mathematical Logic: A Course with Exercises.
Oxford University Press. Two volumes.

The previous statement about the Russell object R then

translates into the harmless statement that R is not a set, but
a so-called proper class.
Frank Valckenborgh

Introduction
Prerequisites
Partially ordered sets and Mathematical Induction

Prerequisites
Standard notations:


N =  0, 1, 2, 3, . . . .1

Z = 3, 2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 3, . . . : subtraction!
Q = pq | p, q Z, q 6= 0 : division!
R: construction by so-called Dedekind cuts of Q or by Cauchy
sequences
in Q .


C = a + ib | a, b R .

There is another widespread convention, where N is taken to be

the set of all (strictly) positive integers.
Frank Valckenborgh

Introduction
Prerequisites
Partially ordered sets and Mathematical Induction

Partially ordered sets and Mathematical Induction

PARTIALLY ORDERED
SETS and
MATHEMATICAL
INDUCTION

Frank Valckenborgh

Introduction
Prerequisites
Partially ordered sets and Mathematical Induction

Partially ordered sets and Mathematical Induction

Roughly speaking, a binary relation on a set S should
correspond with a statement that some elements in S are
related to some other elements in S.
In other words, for each pair of elements a, b S, we should
be able to tell if a is related to b or not.
In mathematics, we have to be more precise. A binary relation
on a set S can then be defined as a (possibly empty) subset
R S S:
If (a, b) R, then a is related to b ;
If (a, b) 6 R, then a and b are unrelated.

Here, S S denotes the product of the set S with itself, also

denoted by S 2 . This is the set of all ordered pairs of elements
of S .
If (a, b) R, one also uses the notation a R b .
Frank Valckenborgh

Introduction
Prerequisites
Partially ordered sets and Mathematical Induction

Partially ordered sets and Mathematical Induction

Definition
Let S be a set. A binary relation on S is said to be a partial
order if
(1) is reflexive : x S : x x ;
(2) is transitive : x, y , z S : x y and y z implies x z ;
(3) is anti-symmetric : x, y S : x y and y x implies x = y .

A partial order is a linear order if the following additional condition

is verified:
(4) x, y S : x y

or y x .

A partially ordered set is often called a poset.

Frank Valckenborgh

Introduction
Prerequisites
Partially ordered sets and Mathematical Induction

Partially ordered sets and Mathematical Induction

Example
The natural numbers N , the integers Z , the rationals Q and the
real numbers R are all linear orders with respect to the usual order
relation.
Example
Given a set U , the collection of all its subsets P(U) , endowed with
the subset relation , is a partial order, but in general not a linear
order:
(1) For all A U we have A A ;
(2) If A B and B C , then A C ;
(3) If A B and B A, then A = B ;
(4) If x 6= y , then {x} and {y } do not compare.
Frank Valckenborgh

Introduction
Prerequisites
Partially ordered sets and Mathematical Induction

Partially ordered sets and Mathematical Induction

A least element of a subset M of a poset (S, ) is an element
m M such that
y M : m y .

Notice that a least element of a subset of a poset is required

to be a member of this subset!
Definition
A partial order is a well-order if each non-empty subset has a least
element.

Frank Valckenborgh

Introduction
Prerequisites
Partially ordered sets and Mathematical Induction

Partially ordered sets and Mathematical Induction

Proposition
Each well-ordered set S is a linear order.
Proof: We have to show that, given any two elements x and y in S, we
have either x y or y x .
It is obviously sufficient to consider the case where S has at least two
elements, otherwise there is nothing to prove.
If x, y S, then the subset {x, y } has a least element, by the definition
of a well-ordering. Hence, either x y or y x .

Frank Valckenborgh

Introduction
Prerequisites
Partially ordered sets and Mathematical Induction

Partially ordered sets and Mathematical Induction

Example
The set N , endowed with the usual order relation, is well-ordered.
In this unit, I take the natural numbers to be the set
n
o
N = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, . . . .

Example
The set Q, endowed with the usual order relation, is not
well-ordered. For instance, the subset
A=

qQ|q>0

has no least element, because 0 6 A .

Frank Valckenborgh