Intersection

🅟 Feb 16, 2026

  🅤 Mar 22, 2026

DEF-IT. Intersection.

  • Let $C$ be a class of sets. The intersection of $C$ is

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

    This is a set: $\bigcap C\subseteq X$ for any $X\in C$.

  • We write

    \[\begin{align*} A\cap B &= \bigcap\{A,B\}, \\ A\cap B\cap C &= (A\cap B)\cap C, \\ A\cap B\cap C\cap D &= (A\cap B\cap C)\cap D \\ \end{align*}\]

    and so on.


PROP-IT-EMP.

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

    \[X\cap\varnothing = \varnothing.\]

PROP-IT-IPO. Idempotence.

For any $X$,

\[X\cap X = X.\]

PROP-IT-COM. Commutativity.

For any $A$ and $B$,

\[A\cap B = B\cap A.\]

PROP-IT-ASS. Associativity.

For any $A$, $B$ and $C$,

\[(A\cap B)\cap C = A\cap (B\cap C).\]

As a result:

PROP-IT-MO.

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