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EXPLANATION


Formally, two sets ''A'' and ''B'' are disjoint if their Intersection is the Empty Set , i.e. if

:A\cap B = arnothing.\,

This definition extends to any collection of sets. A collection of sets is pairwise disjoint or '''mutually disjoint''' if any two ''distinct'' sets in the collection are disjoint.

Formally, let ''I'' be an Index Set , and for each ''i'' in ''I'', let ''A''''i'' be a set. Then the family of sets {''A''''i'' : ''i'' ∈ ''I''} is pairwise disjoint if for any ''i'' and ''j'' in ''I'' with ''i'' ≠ ''j'',

:A_i \cap A_j = arnothing.\,

For example, the collection of sets { {1}, {2}, {3}, ... } is pairwise disjoint. If {''A''''i''} is a pairwise disjoint collection, then clearly its intersection is empty:

:\bigcap_{i\in I} A_i = arnothing.\,

However, the converse is not true: the intersection of the collection is empty, but the collection is ''not'' pairwise disjoint - in fact, there are no two disjoint sets on the collection.

A Partition Of A Set ''X'' is any collection of non-empty subsets {''A''''i'' : ''i'' ∈ ''I''} of ''X'' such that {''A''''i''} are pairwise disjoint and

:\bigcup_{i\in I} A_i = X.\,


SEE ALSO