Symmetric Difference

🅟 Feb 17, 2026

  🅤 Jun 23, 2026

Definition 1.

The symmetric difference between two sets $X$ and $Y$ is

\[X \symdif Y = (X \setdif Y) \cup (Y \setdif X).\]

Proposition 1.

  1. For any set $X$,

    \[X \symdif \empt = X.\]
  2. For any sets $X$ and $Y$,

    \[X \symdif Y = \empt \enspace\lrimp\enspace X = Y.\]

Proposition 2. Commutativity.

For any sets $X$ and $Y$,

\[X \symdif Y = Y \symdif X.\]

Proposition 3. Associativity.

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

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

As a corollary of Proposition 1 (I), commutativity and associativity of $\symdif$:

Proposition 4.

For any set $X$, $(\powerset(X), \symdif)$ is an abelian group with neutral element $\empt$.


Proposition 5.

For any sets $X$ and $Y$,

\[X \symdif Y = (X \cup Y) \setdif (X \cap Y).\]