Total number of subsets in a set I was reading about subsets, in that, the article suggests the tot

Santino Bautista

Santino Bautista

Answered question

2022-06-14

Total number of subsets in a set
I was reading about subsets, in that, the article suggests the total number of subsets in a set is 2 n , where n is the number of elements in the set. For example - { 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 } the total number of subsets is 32 because n is 5 and 2 5 is 32 by multiplicative principle.
But the multiplicative principle is that if m events can happen in n ways then the possible outcomes are m × n. So in the subsets problem if every element has 2 possibilities of it being in set or not being in set why is it not 2 × 5 and 2 5 ? I know that the 2 5 is correct but not able to visualize it.

Answer & Explanation

Eleanor Luna

Eleanor Luna

Beginner2022-06-15Added 19 answers

Step 1
Let Ω be a finite set.
Then you can think this way: for each subset S Ω, each element ω i Ω belong or do not belong to such set S, where 1 i n.
So the first decision has two possibilities: either w 1 S or w 1 S.
Step 2
Once you have made the first decision, there are two possibilities for the second decision: either w 2 S or w 2 S.
This process goes on until the last element ω n is considered.
Since there are n elements and two possibilities associated to each decision, we conclude | P ( Ω ) | = 2 n .
misurrosne

misurrosne

Beginner2022-06-16Added 3 answers

Step 1
It is not true that if k events are independent and each have m different outcomes, then there are k × m possibilities. The true number is actually m k , which immediately gives us a formula for the number of subsets here.
Step 2
The m × n expression you give is from a different scenario: there are 2 independent events; the first event has m possibilities; the second event has n possibilities. We can see how the m k rule arises from repeated application of this rule (until we have broken the situation into k independent events) in the special case where m = n.

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