Intersection

🅟 Feb 16, 2026

  🅤 Jun 23, 2026

Definition 1.

The intersection of a set $X$ is

\[\bigcap X = \left\{ x : (\forall A \in X : x \in A) \right\}.\]

This is a set by Separation Schema: $\bigcap X \subseteq A$ for any $A \in X$.

For any sets $X_1$, $\cdots$, $X_n$ ($n \geq 2$), we write

\[X_1 \cap \cdots \cap X_n = \bigcap \{X_1, \cdots, X_n\}.\]

Proposition 1.

  1. \[\bigcap \empt = \empt.\]
  2. For any set $X$,

    \[X \cap \empt = \empt.\]

Proposition 2. Idempotence.

For any set $X$,

\[X \cap X = X.\]

Proposition 3. Commutativity.

For any sets $X$ and $Y$,

\[X \cap Y = Y \cap X.\]

Proposition 4. Associativity.

For any sets $X$, $Y$ and $Z$,

\[(X \cap Y) \cap Z = X \cap (Y \cap Z).\]

As a corollary of Proposition 1 (II), commutativity and associativity of $\cap$:

Proposition 5.

For any set $X$, $(\powerset(X), \cap)$ is an abelian semigroup.